A company paying its owner $10mm in salary cannot deduct all $10 million. It could probably get away with paying a six-figure salary (fully deductible), but the rest would be re-characterized as a dividend and the underlying "salary" expense would not be deductible. At the numbers we're talking about in this hypothetical, the corporation would be treated as severely underreporting its tax liability--meaning the highest penalty rates, back interest, and possibly including jail time.