What is the difference in a closed corporation and an S corporation?

Answer 1

A closely held company is one in which all shares of stock are owned by a small number of people (often related to each other), and a Subchapter S corporation is one that conforms to that subchapter of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, including closely held corporations (with additional restrictions on nationality, number of shareholders, etc). The benefit of an S-corp is that the entitity income is not taxed separately from the income of the shareholders, so you don't pay income taxes twice. There is certainly no obligation for a close corporation to file for S-corp status, and there may be good reasons not to (e.g., foreign investors).