How do I shelter investment income through a corporation?

Incorporating to hold investments is one of those topics where the accountant, the lawyer, and the planner each emphasize something different, which leaves people unsure what to actually do. This column tries to give a road map for deciding whether a corporation is worth it. The draw is deferring tax by keeping investment income inside the company rather than in your own hands, but that comes with its own layers: corporate tax treatment of passive income, the cost and paperwork of running the structure, and how money eventually gets out to you personally. The thinking weighs those frictions against the benefit so the decision rests on your numbers rather than a blanket rule. It's most relevant to business owners and incorporated professionals with retained earnings to invest who are trying to judge whether the structure earns its keep.