Do you find yourself with the urge to spring clean every year near the federal tax deadline in April? It feels good to throw out some of the financial records stuffing your filing cabinets. But before you head for the trash, make sure you’re not disposing of records you may need, because you don’t want  Continue Reading »

The IRS Fiscal Year 2015 Enforcement and Service Results showed an increase of 18.6% over the previous year for audits of partnerships. That’s the highest audit rate partnerships have experienced since 2006. By comparison, audits of large C corporations decreased by 8.8% in 2015. And under the new rules for audits of partnerships that were  Continue Reading »

Lunn v. Lunn, 2015 Tenn. App. LEXIS 515 (June 29, 2015) Tennessee divorce courts seem divided on how to treat the goodwill of a business, specifically on the question of whether to adopt a distinction between enterprise and personal goodwill. The current rule seems to be that, if the business is a solo practice, goodwill  Continue Reading »

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) provide tax-saving opportunities for business owners who want to exit the business and are committed to employee ownership. A business valuation is the first step to determining whether this option makes sense for you. How ESOPs Save Taxes Business owners typically qualify for the current maximum 20 percent maximum federal rate on  Continue Reading »

There have been several significant tax developments that affect Maine small business partnerships in recent months. They also apply to multi-member limited liability companies (LLCs) that are treated as partnerships for federal tax purposes. (For simplicity, we’ll use the terms “partnership” and “partner” to refer to all entities and owners that are affected by the  Continue Reading »

An earnout provision is a contractual arrangement in which the seller receives additional payment in the future if certain financial goals are met, and if you are selling a business, the buyer may want to pay part of the price this way. Basically, part of the price is contingent on the performance of the company  Continue Reading »

If a taxpayer makes a contribution to a charitable organization of $250 or greater, they must substantiate the contribution with a contemporaneous written acknowledgment of the contribution by the done organization, if they want the deduction to be claimed on a tax return. For donations of money, the donee’s written acknowledgment must state the amount  Continue Reading »

Sieber v. Sieber, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 2256 (June 15, 2015) Size does not matter, especially when it comes to applying a discount for lack of control. A recent Ohio ruling examines the use of a DLOC where the owner spouse held a small interest in a business, but played a large role in running  Continue Reading »

When considering how the value of an asset will be determined, it is common to contemplate which method the appraiser will use or whether the discounts might apply. However, one critical factor that may not immediately come to mind, is the appraisal date. What’s the Big Deal? One of the main reasons an appraisal’s “as-of”  Continue Reading »

Do you remember your first summer job? Whatever your first job may have been, it taught valuable lessons about responsibility and balancing work with family and friends. It also helped keep you out of trouble during the summer, instilled confidence and built up your resume. Unfortunately, there are not enough summer jobs available to meet the  Continue Reading »