The following article was written by Steven A. Horowitz, a tax attorney that Avenue M Advisors, Inc. works with and we found the article to be very compelling about the new proposed regulation changes under IRC §2704(b).
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The valuation community has gone head to head time and time again with the Internal Revenue Service when it comes to tax-affecting S-Corporations, and history reflects that the Tax Courts have sided with the IRS’s position time and time again.
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How would you answer the following three questions?
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As an entrepreneur, you’ve spent time building your business and it might be in the startup phase, growth phase or might be a mature and established business. In any stage of business you should have a plan in place to exit out of the business.
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Despite concerns about the continuing strength of the economy, middle market companies have shown remarkable pricing resilience -- however, nothing good lasts forever.  Although valuations appear to be holding steady, the number of middle market sale transactions declined to a 20 year low for the month of January 2016.  This result indicates that buyers are becoming cautious about completing transactions.  If this uncertainty persists, history shows us that valuations will go down.   As a result, if you or your clients have been thinking about selling, now is the time.  Read More

Shareholder and partner disputes arise frequently in business for a multitude of reasons.  Examples include a shareholder mishandling corporate information, a partner acting inappropriately or a personality conflict among shareholders.  Read More

Selling a business is the most popular exit strategy for business owners.  In some cases, there are no successors who want to continue the business; in others, it was always the business owner's plan to sell the business at a certain point in time.  Whatever the reason for wanting to sell, the following considerations for the sale of a business will help to sell the business and secure the best sales price for the company.  Read More

There comes a time when every company needs to know the dollar value of the business assets, including intangibles such as patents, copyrights, trade secrets and even the brand.  Brandaide provides access to trademark registration services as well as to ancillary services such as company valuations.  Cheryl Hodgson, Attorney with Brandaide and Hodgson Legal, interviewed Melisa Silverman of Avenue M Advisors, Inc. to share the basics you need to know.  Read More

There are many reasons that a business owner or individual may need to know the value of a business.  The standard of value that is typically utilized is fair market value.  The fair market value standard consists of an independent buyer and seller having the requisite knowledge and facts, not being under any undue influence or stressors and having access to all of the information to make an informed decision.  Below are 25 common reasons that a business owner or individual may need a business valuation:  Read More

The U.S. Department of Labor has a 2014 initiative to closely examine and scrutinize ESOP valuations. The U.S. government is increasing their scrutiny of business valuations of ESOPs (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) within sponsoring companies as a result of the inflated values and per share discrepancies in values in recent years.  The Labor Department is currently involved in 15+ lawsuits, most of them involving business valuations as the central issue in dispute.  The claims include deliberate inflation of values harming the ESOP Plan and the participating members of the plan.  Read More