[guscusi]

I own a small C Corp. with 2 employees, including myself. I pay myself and the other employee a salary. Is there any IRS publication or other material where it shows what the IRS considered "reasonable salaries" are an "owner-officers" like myself and employees of a C Corp. I obviously aim at lowering to the maximum the Net profit of the C Corp by paying myself the highest "IRS-acceptable" salary. I have read that the IRS considers acceptable a salary in line with what the market pays for a job similar to mine, but I would like to know if there is any chart or IRS Guideline related to the position or size, income of the C Corp. net profit, revenue, etc...

[ArcSine]

No black-and-white chart, if that's what you mean. I doubt if one would ever exist, as the 'reasonable salary' issue has so many variables and case-specific wrinkles, that any attempt at establishing hard and fast rules would never get off the ground.

What you've heard is correct--IRS will give weight to industry and peer norms. Beyond that, you need to adjust for some common-sense factors; e.g.

... If you were performing the same services for a company in which you had no ownership interest, what would your compensation be?

... (Similar to previous) If you completely stepped away from daily involvement with the biz, how much would you have to pay someone to take over your job (assuming that you'd hire someone with similar skills, degrees, etc.)?

I hope that helped a bit. Cheers!

[guscusi]

Thank you again for your accurate & precise reply. I totally agree and your reply has confirmed my thoughts.