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Winning Back-Office Strategies to Boost Your Business Agility
VIEWpoint Issue 1 | 2023
2023 Compliance Trends: Staying Ahead in an Evolving Regulatory E...
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global economic downturn surrounded by future uncertainty. This has many business owners thinking about how their businesses and assets will be impacted. While estate planning might not be high on everyone’s minds right now, this tragic situation has presented prudent opportunities for individuals to take advantage of low business valuations to minimize estate and gift taxes.
With the exception of a few industries, such as health care, grocery stores and online distributors, businesses across the nation are watching their values dwindle with every day that the COVID-19 virus has the world operating in a shut-down mode. Here are the main factors driving values down:
Currently, the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption is at an all-time high of $11.58 million per individual and $23.16 million for a married couple. With lower equity valuations, this creates an opportunity to transfer a greater interest in closely held businesses while eliminating or lowering gift tax.
This is particularly enticing to family owned businesses looking to transfer wealth to the next generation. Under the current laws and regulations, when a family business owner transfers an interest in their business to another family member, the value of the transfer is recorded at fair market value. Furthermore, in these situations the value of the business is often reduced for certain allowable discounts. Commonly used discounts include a discount for lack of marketability, control and voting rights.
With a presidential election in the months ahead, there is a lot of uncertainty. Exemption levels may be lowered, gift and estate tax rates may go up and valuation discounts may change or be eliminated depending on the political party chosen to be at the helm. If you are considering making gifts of a minority interest in your business, you should consider having a valuation performed today to support the transfer of wealth to the next generation and maximize the transaction benefits.
If you have any questions regarding how COVID-19 has impacted the value of your business, contact Doeren Mayhew’s valuation experts today.
This publication is distributed for informational purposes only, with the understanding that Doeren Mayhew is not rendering legal, accounting, or other professional opinions on specific facts for matters, and, accordingly, assumes no liability whatsoever in connection with its use. Should the reader have any questions regarding any of the news articles, it is recommended that a Doeren Mayhew representative be contacted.
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