If the Corporation C loans the officer money for business purposes,
does the corporation still claim that money that was loaned at tax time or does the C Corp claim the money as it is paid back to the corporation?

How does the loan look on the books? A liability

When a Corporation lends monies to its officer, the monies lent to the Officer is really booked as an Officer Loan receiveable. This loan must have a stated interest rate, a repayment schedule, that is an intent for the officer to repay this loan and the loan must be approved by the Board of Directors in the Minutes of the Board meetings.

The reason for this formality is avoid the recharacterization of this loan as a disguised dividend in the case of a C Corporation (known as CONSTRUCTIVE DIVIDEND) or recharacterised as a salary by the IRS in the case of an S Corporation. It is best to maintain the above document for your records in case of an IRS audit.

Now, if the corporation has lent the monies to the officer who has returned it back to the corporation before the year-end, then clearly there is no need to show the loan on the books of the corporation as it has been paid back. This type of loan is a short term loan, nevertheless, it is best to charge the officer some sort of interest for the duration of the loan based on the interest rate specified in the loan agreement with the officer.

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