Bad behavior in forced buyout triggers marketability discount
Wisniewski v. Walsh, 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 724 (April 2, 2013) Children learn that bad behavior has consequences. An appellate court recently taught a similar lesson to a troublemaking shareholder whose doings forced a buyout. Three siblings each owned a...
Tax Court Predicates Bonus on Increasing Asset Sale Price
Aries Communications Inc. v. Commissioner, 2013 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 111 (April 10, 2013) What qualifies as a reasonable success fee for the employee who is also the hands-on owner of the company and played a key role in the profitable sale of some of the company's...
Unclear Valuation of Family Business Interests Requires Remand
Farrell v. Farrell, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 33 (Jan. 23, 2013) The wife appealed the trial court's decision to assign all interest in the family businesses to the husband, which, she claimed, left her with a shortfall of $4.4 million. The husband owned a 19.4% interest...
New FASB guidance highlights valuation in the face of liquidation
Companies on the brink of collapse must now use the liquidation basis of accounting, according to new guidance from the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Financial statements will now have to be prepared that show the values of assets and liabilities in terms of...
Court Reproves Spouse’s Efforts to Lower Value of Community Business
Charles v. Charles, 2013 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 2386 (April 2, 2013) "The subtext of this date-of-valuation-of-a-community-business case," the California Court of Appeal said, "is how a strategy can backfire." The operating spouse of the business counted on its value...
Valuation of Family Business Survives Expert’s Deviation From Industry Standards
Russell v. Russell, 2013 Ark. App. LEXIS 151 (Feb. 27, 2013) The husband challenged the trial court's valuation of a family business, claiming there was no credible evidence to show it had a "fair market value" independent of the company's founder—his stepfather. At...
Court Accepts Cost Approach to Calculate Value of Lost Business
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals considered how to measure damages for a facility with no real market when it reviewed the district court's $3.8 million award to the plaintiff related to a destroyed waste treatment plant. The defendants owned and operated a Texas oil...
Court validates expert’s ‘aggressively skeptical’ disaggregation analysis
In a post-trial bid to upset the outcome in Liberty Media Corp. v. Vivendi Universal, S.A., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19485 (Feb. 12, 2013), Vivendi argued that no jury "should have been permitted to base a verdict" on the unreliable loss causation and damages testimony...
Understanding Simplified Employee Pensions
Setting up and maintaining a SEP for your Maine-based business is probably easier than you think. The sooner you get started saving, the more secure your retirement will be, plus your business can gain tax advantages right away. SEP Basics The SEP is a stripped-down...
Benefits Of S Corporations
Whether you're setting up a new company in the Greater Portland area, or you've been in business for years, you need to evaluate which legal structure is best for your enterprise. No one option is best for every type of operation. The number of owners, taxes, and your...