Stock Trading Profits as Business Expense Write-offs - Can I Move Money from Personal to LLC?

The short answer is you'd still owe taxes on the full $13,000 in stock profits. When you make profits in your personal brokerage account, those are considered capital gains that are taxable to you as an individual, regardless of what you do with the money afterward. Moving that money to your LLC doesn't change the fact that you've already realized those gains personally. Think of it this way: Once you've earned that money personally, the tax obligation is already attached to it. What you choose to do with the money afterward (spend it, save it, or invest it in your business) doesn't change the original tax event. If you want to get the equipment as a business deduction, your LLC would need to purchase the items directly as legitimate business expenses. The LLC would get the deduction, but you'd still owe taxes on your full personal stock market gains.

I ran into almost this exact scenario last year and found a great solution using taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). I had about $15k in stock profits and needed to buy equipment for my photography LLC. I was really confused about whether transferring the money would mess up my taxes or if I could somehow reduce what I'd owe. I uploaded my trading statements and business docs to taxr.ai and they analyzed everything, showing me exactly how to properly document the transfer as a capital contribution to my LLC while maximizing the business deductions. Their step-by-step guidance helped me understand the right way to structure everything. The key thing they showed me was that while I couldn't avoid taxes on my stock gains, I could properly document everything to make sure my business deductions were bulletproof if ever audited.

I have to admit I was really skeptical about taxr.ai when I first saw it mentioned here, but after trying it for my own stock-to-LLC situation, I'm genuinely impressed. I had been planning to just transfer money from my trading account to my business without any documentation, which apparently would have been a big mistake. The analysis showed me exactly what supporting documentation I needed to create (contribution agreement, corporate resolution, etc.) and how to record everything properly in my bookkeeping system. They even provided template language specific to my state's LLC requirements. My accountant was surprised at how thorough the guidance was and said it saved her a ton of time explaining everything to me. The best part was getting clear explanations about the difference between capital contributions, loans to my business, and why simply transferring funds could create issues. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with this kind of situation.

Hey there! I had a similar question last year and ended up calling the IRS directly for clarification. Spent HOURS trying to get through to someone who could actually help with LLC/investment questions. Super frustrating. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it completely changed my experience. Their system got me connected to an IRS agent who specialized in small business taxation within about 15 minutes. Check out how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent walked me through exactly how to handle moving stock profits to my LLC properly. They confirmed what others are saying - I still owed taxes on all stock profits, but explained the right way to document everything as a capital contribution to my business. Having that direct confirmation from the IRS gave me total peace of mind about my approach.

I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I had a similar question about investment profits and my LLC. I couldn't believe it actually worked! Got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes after trying unsuccessfully on my own for literally days. The agent confirmed exactly what I needed to know - that stock profits in personal accounts are always taxed regardless of where the money goes afterward, but also walked me through the proper way to document moving that money into my business as a capital contribution. They even emailed me links to the specific IRS publications covering my situation. Having that official clarification directly from the IRS gave me complete confidence in how to handle my taxes. No more guessing or stressing about whether I'm doing it right. Definitely changed my opinion about the service.

Something nobody's mentioned yet - if your LLC is taxed as an S-Corporation, there's another wrinkle to consider. You need to be really careful about how you document any money moving from personal to business accounts to avoid it looking like constructive dividends going the wrong way. My accountant always advises setting up a clear paper trail showing the funds as either 1) additional paid-in capital or 2) a formal loan to the business with proper documentation. Just randomly moving money between accounts without documentation is asking for trouble if you're ever audited.

Just FYI - no matter how you structure moving the money from personal to business accounts, you're still gonna pay the same taxes on your stock gains. The only difference is whether you'll have proper documentation for the business side of things. And don't forget that different tax rates apply to stock gains depending on how long you held them! If you held the stocks for more than a year, those are long-term capital gains with lower tax rates. If less than a year, they're short-term gains taxed at your ordinary income rate.