Equity Recap: An Optional Capital Infusion
Private equity funds offer a way to get a capital infusion for your Maine-based company for a period of time while maintaining a role in its operation and avoiding a sale or a merger. It's called equity recapitalization and it typically involves selling a minority or...
A Joint Expert Could Be Just What the Court Ordered
There is a common perception that financial expert witnesses are biased in favor of their clients' financial interests. In truth, credentialed professionals must adhere to various ethical standards that require them to be independent and objective when serving as an...
Must Joint Activities Be Treated as Partnerships?
For federal income tax purposes, an unincorporated joint venture, other contractual, or co-ownership arrangement, under which several participants conduct a business or investment activity and split the profits, is generally treated as a partnership. If the joint...
How Purchase Offers Factor into the Valuation Equation
Have you ever heard a business owner brag, "I was offered $X million for my business!", or have you been lucky enough to receive an offer from another party to purchase your private business stock? It seems that such offers reveal how much an objective third party...
Court Affirms Rightness of Expert’s ‘Marital Value’ Calculation
In re Honer, 2015 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 2531 (April 9, 2015) In a bitter California divorce, the valuation of two grocery stores was a sore point. The wife attacked the work of the husband’s expert because he used what he called the “marital value.” The appeals court...
Valuing In-Kind Distributions of Closely Held Stock in Divorce
Which would you (or one of your clients) rather receive in a divorce settlement: cash or stock in a closely held business that is controlled by your former spouse? When divorce gets ugly, and it often does, cash might be a safer bet than in-kind distributions, but the...
What You Need to Know Before Making Year-End Charitable Contributions
Have you heard of “Giving Tuesday” yet? On December 1, 2015, many charities used “Giving Tuesday” as a catchy way to launch their year-end fundraising campaigns. It's a critical time of year for the not-for-profit sector. Historically, a significant amount of...
A Recipe for Deducting Meals, Parties and Gifts Provided to Employees
Few things say "thank you" like food. As the holidays and year-end crunch approach, many Maine employers will bring pizza or donuts into the office, organize a holiday luncheon or provide their staff with free Thanksgiving turkeys. Employer-provided meals offer an...
IRS Raises Tangible Property Expensing Threshold
Many Maine businesses are uncertain how to account for costs to produce, acquire, or improve property, plant and equipment. To address this, in 2013 the IRS issued regulations on capitalizing versus deducting the costs of tangible personal property. In 2014, the IRS...
Admissibility Does Not Depend on Personal Knowledge of Facts
American Eagle Waste Industries, LLC v. St. Louis County, 2015 Mo. App. LEXIS 168 (Feb. 24, 2015) The latest dispute in the long-running litigation between several garbage disposal companies and a Missouri county focused on the trial court’s damages findings. The...