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Finance: What is Conduit Theory? 9 Views
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Description:
What is Conduit Theory? Conduit theory is a rationale argument against double taxation of investment companies that pass on all dividends, interest, and capital gains to shareholders. Since the investment companies are retaining almost none of the earnings, conduit theory poses that they are acting like a conduit, or pipeline, and should not be subject to corporate tax, treating them instead like mutual funds or S-corporations.
Transcript
- 00:00
And finance Allah Shmoop What is conduit theory Old All
- 00:07
right people If you try really really hard you can
- 00:10
do it Sorry you couldn't resist Okay So here's a
- 00:14
conduit Yeah Fancy five dollar word for pipe A different
- 00:18
kind of pipe Yeah they're okay Conduit theory relates to
Full Transcript
- 00:21
the tax treatment of an investment company Well the basic
- 00:24
idea is that if the company passes ninety percent or
- 00:27
more of its net income gains and so on through
- 00:31
a figurative conduit then well then that money that ninety
- 00:35
percent passed through won't be taxed on the income of
- 00:38
the corporation That is The company won't be first taxed
- 00:41
when it earns that income Only to then have the
- 00:44
recipients of those cash distributions be taxed again Instead the
- 00:48
income and losses if any will be passed to the
- 00:52
investor or slash owners of that company And those shareholders
- 00:55
will then be taxed as individuals or in whatever vehicle
- 00:59
through which they invested in the company All right example
- 01:07
brass knuckles ink made fifty million dollars This year it's
- 01:10
going to keep five million dollars and just add to
- 01:13
the twelve million it already has in the bank You
- 01:15
know rainy day money but it's going to pass through
- 01:18
via the Conduit Theory system forty five million dollars to
- 01:22
its shareholders I eat ninety percent of its fifty mil
- 01:25
in profits so the company will be tax and say
- 01:28
thirty percent on the five million it's going to keep
- 01:31
or it'll pay one point five million in taxes and
- 01:33
keep a net three point five million dollars for that
- 01:36
rainy day fund But then it'll pass through the forty
- 01:39
five million to it's conveniently numbered forty five shareholders who
- 01:42
all own an equal amount of brass knuckles ink Well
- 01:46
then each shareholder gets a million box on which they
- 01:49
would then be taxed as individuals This system of conduit
- 01:53
profits to the owners is the opposite of what happens
- 01:56
in many corporations Were taxes are paid twice once on
- 02:00
the earnings of the corporation and then again after earnings
- 02:03
have been passed on to shareholders usually in the form
- 02:06
of a dividend Well in this case had brass knuckles
- 02:09
not adopted conduit theory for tax purposes it would've paid
- 02:13
fifteen million dollars in taxes on the fifty million a
- 02:15
taxable profits to net thirty five million which would then
- 02:18
be contained or retained in the company then presumably at
- 02:22
some later date and years down the road had the
- 02:24
company then distributed that money to shareholders Shareholders would then
- 02:29
again be taxed and they'll say thirty percent long term
- 02:32
gain raids or something like that so that the thirty
- 02:34
five mill would have been boiled down to something closer
- 02:36
to just twenty five million net after the massive tax
- 02:40
hits had you know hit So put that in your 00:02:43.97 --> [endTime] conduit in smoke it Whoa
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