Does your business hold on to all of its paper records? Many individuals and businesses hold onto paper and digital records indefinitely — just in case. But it can become burdensome to securely store years of financial records. Here’s some guidance to help minimize recordkeeping overload. Business Recordkeeping Here are some best practices for records used  Continue Reading »

The income approach is a common choice when appraisers are selecting appraisal techniques. Value is found with this technique by converting future economic benefits into their net present value. Long-term sustainable growth is a key part of this. Capitalization of Earnings Method When valuing a business under the income approach, the following formula is used, assuming the  Continue Reading »

Ramundo v. Ramundo, 2017 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 443 (Feb. 24, 2017) A New Jersey divorce case revolving around the valuation of a chiropractic practice is a good example of how a skilled valuation expert may produce a credible, if incomplete, appraisal when denied access to vital information by the opposing party. Here, even though  Continue Reading »

April 22 was Earth Day. It’s a great reminder to consider implementing changes to help reduce the amount of energy we consume. But “going green” isn’t just good for the Earth — certain energy-saving expenditures also may qualify for generous tax breaks that are good for your pocketbook, too. Here are some tax credits for  Continue Reading »

Most small business owners and attorneys know the basics of the business valuation process. They probably know that there are three approaches to value: the cost, market and income approaches. One thing attorneys and small business owners also understand is that the process of valuing a business is not simply a matter of plugging numbers  Continue Reading »

Is business valuation an art or a science? In a training years ago, a panel of business valuation experts tackled this question, and could not come up with an answer. While the experts did agree that business valuation has elements of both science and art, they differed on which one was the predominant element. Today the debate  Continue Reading »

Minn. Energy Res. Corp. v. Commissioner of Revenue, 2016 Minn. LEXIS 715 (Nov. 9, 2016) The Minnesota Supreme Court reviewed a tax court valuation involving a public utility company. The court’s opinion delves into bread-and-butter valuation issues such as how best to calculate cost of equity and how to determine external obsolescence. Minnesota Energy Resources  Continue Reading »

Hardship withdrawals are permitted by most 401(k) plans, though plan sponsors aren’t required to allow them. As it stands today, employees seeking to take money out of their 401(k) accounts are limited to the funds they contributed to the accounts themselves, and only after they’ve first taken a loan from the same account. And of  Continue Reading »

Let’s say your Maine-based small business provides a service that involves servicing products that your customers own. Maybe you fix broken construction equipment, make alterations to clothing, frame customers’ art or a repair computers. You provide the service, but a customer does not respond to phone calls and e-mail messages after you notify him that his product  Continue Reading »

The deadline to begin using the 2018 federal income tax withholding tables, which reflect changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was February 15, 2018. Although most Maine employers had no problems meeting the deadline, many employees question how the TCJA will affect them. Those are findings of a recent American Payroll Association  Continue Reading »