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Consulting Services

Business Entity Selection

Choosing the form of entity of your business (e.g. "S" corporation, sole proprietor, limited liability company, etc.) is a crucial decision that can have longstanding tax implications, positive or negative. We can assist you in evaluating the pros and cons of each entity type to help you determine the most advantageous form of business for your company.

Estate Tax Planning

Thanks to the favorable estate and gift tax rates and exemptions made "permanent" by the American Tax Relief Act of 2012, you have - for the time being - a relatively reliable framework for tax planning. This is an excellent opportunity to preserve more of your estate wealth and reduce your estate taxes. It's important to evaluate your estate strategy and make updates, if needed, in a timely manner, since the rates are only permanent until Congress decides to change them.  In addition to taxes, family issues, fairness, asset protection, and effective wealth transfer also factor heavily into your estate planning decisions.

Consider:

  • What is your future estate tax liability and how will it be funded?

  • Are you confident your estate planning goals will be accomplished with the current documents in place?

  • Will estate taxes or inheritance taxes affect the structure of your current investments?

  • How should a family with international connections approach estate planning?

If your estate plan fails to adequately address these issues, you run the risk of missed opportunities to reduce estate tax, unintended distribution of assets, or disputes. The key is having the right estate planning strategy in place. We can help you assess your needs and work with you to create a plan that meets your personal, family, and business requirements. We analyze your financial picture and provide a written plan to address and achieve your comprehensive estate planning goals. Our focus is on empowering you to provide for your loved ones in a tax-efficient manner while protecting your assets, reducing risk and complying with federal and state rules and regulations.

Consulting Services

We provide services to enhance the personal and business successes of our clients. We can help your business identify areas negatively affecting profitability and growth and develop solutions that are practical and technically sound.  In addition to acting as a sounding board for management, we provide comprehensive, flexible strategies that address the issues affecting your business. The following are just a few of the areas in which we provide consulting services:

  • Accounting software selection and implementation

  • Business Entity Selection

  • Business valuations

  • Buying/selling a business

  • Financial & retirement decisions

  • Estate, trust & gift planning

Buying & selling a business

Generational transition or sale of the family business, along with leadership succession, is among the most important business decisions you will ever make. For a family business, a transition is typically a once-in-a-lifetime decision. Whether selling the business, keeping the business in the family, or transitioning leadership to heirs or a non-family stakeholder, the issues are immense. We can guide you through the maze of complex business, emotional, legal, and technical issues especially considering less than half of family businesses survive into a second generation.

A formal game plan is required

Tackling the issues of business transition and succession may be difficult, but the health and longevity of a family business depend on approaching the issues head-on, developing a well-thought-out plan, and communicating the results of that plan to the right stakeholders at the right time. Doing so will increase the likelihood that your business will endure well beyond the transition, delivering lasting value to your family. We have an experienced team that is dedicated to helping family business owners as they develop and execute each step in their business transition and succession plan so that the whole process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

 

-Key Considerations:  What are your most important goals—both commercial and personal—in thinking about your business transition? What are your business’s key value drivers? We will help you think through these questions and others as well as the challenges you may face along the way.

 

-Succession strategy:  We then use these findings to recommend a clear succession plan—including timing, future ownership and management shares, and issues of capital.

 

-Sale of the business:  If a sale is the best option, we can assist in pricing; support you in your efforts to identify the right buyer, while respecting your confidentiality.

 

-Tax-efficient structuring:  Regardless of the transition vehicle you chose, we will assess your tax situation and suggest a commercially optimal, tax-efficient solution to transfer the ownership of your business when the time is right.

 

With business transition and succession your leverage tends to diminish with time. The decisions you make will affect the future of your business, customers, employees—and, most importantly, yourself and your family. Therefore it is often wise to solidify your plan sooner, rather than later.

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