Posted: February 9th, 2016

A corporation, owned by one owner, decides to go out of business due to excessive losses. When the stock was originally issued, the owner did not specify that the stock purchased (at a price of $1000) would be considered §1244 stock.

A corporation, owned by one owner, decides to go out of business due to excessive losses. When the stock was originally issued, the owner did not specify that the stock purchased (at a price of $1000) would be considered §1244 stock. Now that the company is being dissolved, the owner realizes that the loss on the stock would be limited to $3,000 per year. Consequently, because the loss would equate to approximately $200,000, the owner desires to change the stock to §1244 stock, thus allowing greater deductions. Can the owner change the type of stock after the fact? If the owner could change the stock, would this be ethical?