Newt Gingrich avoided tens of thousands of dollars in Medicare payroll taxes in 2010 by paying himself a relatively small salary in comparison to the distributions received from his S-corporation, a technique the IRS has consistently and successfully challenged, Forbes reports. S-Corporation shareholders who also provide services for the entity are supposed to pay themselves a reasonable compensation, which is subject to the Medicare tax. Gingrich and his wife, Callista, treated only $444,327 of what they got as compensation to them, reporting a whopping $2.4 million of their earnings from these corporations as profits or dividends.
