[2Gkashmiri]

no. shareholders are not usually the same legal person.

a corporation is a distinct "legal person" because it goes through "incorporation" which breathes a legal life into a concept.

a person does, a corporation has legally perpetual existence because the shareholders can endlessly transfer their shares to other persons and on death the shares are given as inheritance.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

In which case, when the company distributes profits to shareholders, that is a transfer between people, and is taxed like other similar transfers. There is no double taxation - the company (one legal person) is taxed on income/profit, the shareholders (different legal persons) are taxed on the money they receive from the company.

[2Gkashmiri]

yep