#business-valuation
Business Valuation
Methods and best practices for determining the fair market value of a business
Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs): How Business Owners Move Future Growth Out of Their Estate
A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) lets a business owner move an appreciating asset — and all its future growth — out of the taxable estate while the beneficiary spouse retains access to distributions. With the 2026 lifetime exemption set at $15 million per individual, this guide covers the mechanics, valuation discounts, the reciprocal trust doctrine, and the divorce and death risks to plan around.
The $15 Million Estate Tax Exemption: What OBBBA Means for Business Succession Planning
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently raised the federal estate and gift tax exemption to $15 million per person ($30 million per couple) starting in 2026, eliminating the scheduled TCJA sunset to roughly $7 million. Here's what changed, which existing plans are now outdated, and the succession moves business owners should make — from portability filings to buy-sell agreement reviews and state estate tax exposure.
Lewis v. Commissioner: What a $53 Million QTIP Trust Dispute Teaches About Defensible Valuations
In Lewis v. Commissioner, the Tax Court valued remainder interests surrendered when a $117.6 million QTIP trust terminated early — the IRS said $53.4 million per child, the taxpayers said $156,000, and the court's four rulings on state law, powers of appointment, net-gift math, and actuarial tables landed at $35.1 million.
Piton Holdings v. Commissioner: How a $41.6 Million Easement Deduction Shrank to $800,000 — and What Partnerships Should Learn
In Piton Holdings, LLC v. Commissioner (July 2026), the Tax Court cut a $41.6 million conservation easement deduction to $800,000, upheld the 40% gross valuation misstatement penalty, and voided $40.3 million in allocations to investors whose money arrived after the donation was recorded — two lessons on defensible appraisals and mid-year partner timing that apply to any LLC.
Disability Buy-Out Insurance: The Buy-Sell Agreement Gap Most Co-Owners Miss
A 35-year-old is six times more likely to become disabled than to die before 65, yet most buy-sell agreements only plan for death. How disability buy-out (DBO) insurance funds a co-owner buyout — elimination periods, cross-purchase vs. entity redemption, and why premiums are nondeductible but proceeds are tax-free.
Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition: How Search Funds Turn Managers into Owners
Search funds have returned a 33.9% aggregate IRR and 4.75x invested capital across 862 funds since 1984, per Stanford's 2026 study. Here's how entrepreneurship through acquisition works — traditional and self-funded search structures, SBA 7(a) financing, typical deal metrics, and why quality of earnings diligence decides the outcome.
Business Valuation in Divorce: How Much Is a Spouse's Company Worth?
Business valuation in divorce hinges on separating enterprise goodwill from personal goodwill and active from passive appreciation, using ASA/ABV/CVA-credentialed methods like income, market, and asset approaches.
The Founder's Guide to ESOPs: Selling Your Business to Your Employees
How an ESOP lets founders exit on their own terms — 6,411 US ESOPs hold $2.1 trillion for 15.1 million employees. Covers Section 1042 capital gains deferral, the S-corp federal tax exemption, 2–4% deal costs, fiduciary and repurchase obligations, and which businesses actually fit the structure.
Coworking Space Bookkeeping: ASC 606 Deferred Revenue, NOI Per Square Foot, and the Occupancy KPIs Lenders Demand
How coworking operators separate hot desk, dedicated desk, and private office revenue under ASC 606, hold refundable deposits as liabilities, allocate common-area square footage to compute NOI per foot, capitalize build-out as Qualified Improvement Property with 100% bonus depreciation in 2026, and report the occupancy, RevPOD, churn, and MRR concentration metrics that lenders and acquirers actually price on.
MSP Bookkeeping: ASC 606, Per-Seat MRR, and the Three Numbers Buyers Check First
How small and mid-sized managed service providers should structure their general ledger so that MRR percentage, customer concentration, and service-line gross margin are always investor-ready — with concrete chart-of-accounts, ASC 606, and utilization mechanics.
ESOP Repurchase Obligation Accounting: The Hidden Balance Sheet Liability That Sinks Mature ESOPs
A practical guide to ESOP repurchase obligation accounting for closely held companies — how ASC 480-10-S99 classifies redeemable shares as temporary equity, how to fund the obligation with sinking funds, COLI, recycling, and redemption, and the bookkeeping habits that keep plan-year valuations defensible.
WACC for Small Businesses: Calculating Your Hurdle Rate with the Build-Up Method
WACC blends the after-tax cost of debt and the build-up-method cost of equity into one hurdle rate. A worked example yields 15.5% for an equity-heavy small business, the minimum return a project must clear to create value.