BUSINESS VALUATION INSIGHTS
Business Valuation Blog
Learn more about business valuations from the Equity Business Valuation Services blog covering topics like IRS compliance, USPAP, and what to look for in the business valuation.
Insights
Business Valuation Guides & Insights
Articles on IRS compliance, USPAP standards, valuation discounts, and business valuation methodology.
Valuing Claude's Anthropic: A Business Valuation Look at Pre-IPO Roth Conversions
A Roth IRA conversion involving pre-IPO shares is a taxable event, and the pre-IPO valuation for Roth IRA conversion purposes sets exactly how much tax you owe today versus what grows tax-free later. This guide walks through the market, income, and asset approaches appraisers use, and explains why funding-round pricing or rumored IPO prices can't substitute for a defensible fair market value.
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Valuing a Minority Limited Partnership Interest When the Fund Won't Share Data
Minority limited partnership interest valuation gets complicated fast when a general partner withholds portfolio-level detail. Here is how we build a defensible Form 706 or Form 709 valuation using the data that is actually available, plus properly documented DLOC and DLOM discounts.
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FLP Valuation Discounts: How Lack of Marketability and Minority Interest Are Determined
A family limited partnership interest is routinely worth less than its pro rata share of the underlying assets, and the gap comes from two distinct, separately substantiated discounts. This guide explains how minority interest and lack of marketability discounts for FLP interests are determined, documented, and defended against IRS challenge.
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What Is an Excess Benefit Transaction Under IRC Section 4958, and How Does a Valuation Help?
An excess benefit transaction valuation gives your board the independent comparability data it needs to satisfy the IRC Section 4958 safe harbor and shift the burden of proof to the IRS. Here's how the penalties work, what the three-part rebuttable presumption requires, and where an appraisal fits.
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Family Limited Partnership Valuation Discounts: What Drives Them and How to Defend Them
Family limited partnership valuation discounts hinge on two factors: lack of control and lack of marketability. This guide explains what drives each discount, how they combine, and what makes a valuation defensible enough to survive an IRS estate or gift tax audit.
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Discount for Lack of Control vs. Marketability: How the Two Valuation Discounts Differ
A discount for lack of control accounts for decision-making power a minority owner doesn't have, while a discount for lack of marketability accounts for how hard that ownership stake is to sell. This guide shows how our appraisers calculate and combine both discounts, with a worked example the IRS and courts would recognize.
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Estate Tax Portability: The DSUE Election and Why You Need a Defensible Appraisal
Estate tax portability lets a surviving spouse claim a deceased spouse's unused $15 million exclusion, but only through a timely Form 706 election, and the value reported on that return has to hold up to scrutiny.
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Minority Discount or Pro Rata Value? Valuing a Partnership Buyout
Whether a partnership buyout is valued as a discounted minority interest or a pro rata share of enterprise value depends on your governing agreement and the standard of value it invokes, not on which number feels fairer to either side. This guide explains how appraisers determine which standard applies and what that decision does to the buyout price.
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When Do You Need a Business Valuation for a Portugal Golden Visa or D2 Visa?
A business valuation for Portugal Golden Visa applications is not a legal filing requirement on its own, but it becomes essential documentation whenever your investment route involves buying into, capitalizing, or founding a Portuguese company. This guide explains which routes typically call for a valuation and what a USPAP-compliant report should include.
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Business Valuation for E-2 Visa Petitions: When Does It Strengthen Your Case?
A business valuation isn't a checkbox requirement for an E-2 visa petition, but it's often the strongest evidence you can offer for substantial investment and capital at risk. Here's when USCIS officers actually rely on one, and what L-1 and EB-5 petitions need instead.
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When Do You Need a Business Valuation for IRS Form 3520 Reporting?
A business valuation for IRS Form 3520 establishes the fair market value of a foreign gift, bequest, or trust distribution involving a business interest. This guide explains when that valuation is required, what documentation it needs, and how it fits alongside your CPA's filing.
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Who Bears the Burden of Proof in an IRS Gift Valuation Audit?
In most IRS gift valuation audits, the burden of proof in an IRS gift valuation dispute starts with the taxpayer. This guide walks through the three specific moves, adequate disclosure, a qualified appraisal, and credible evidence under IRC 7491(a), that can shift it to the government.
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Business Valuation for Divorce: How Appraisers Determine a Defensible Number
A business valuation for divorce hinges on which legal standard a state applies (fair market value or fair value) and on separating personal goodwill from divisible enterprise value. This guide breaks down the classification, goodwill, and methodology decisions that determine whether a valuation report holds up in court.
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Equity Value vs Enterprise Value: Why Business Owners Confuse These Numbers
Equity value and enterprise value measure two different things, and mixing them up can distort a deal price or misstate the taxable value on an estate or gift tax return. This guide walks through the bridge formula that connects them, with a worked numeric example.
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The 3 Approaches to Valuing a Business: Asset, Income, and Market Explained
Every credentialed business appraiser works from three recognized approaches to valuing a business: asset, income, and market. This guide explains what each measures, when it applies, and how appraisers reconcile them into one defensible conclusion of value.
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Valuing S Corporations: Tax Affecting, Gross v. Commissioner, and the IRS Job Aid
Valuing an S corporation hinges on whether you tax affect its earnings, a question the Tax Court, the Sixth Circuit, and the IRS have each answered differently since 1999. This guide walks through Gross v. Commissioner, the IRS's 2014 Job Aid, and why no fixed premium or discount replaces a facts-and-circumstances analysis.
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How We Apply IRS Rev. Rul. 59-60 to Value Limited Partnership Interests
Our valuation firm applies IRS Rev. Rul. 59-60 as the governing framework for valuing limited partnership interests, including Qualified Opportunity Fund LP interests, and this guide explains how the ruling's eight factors, and DLOC and DLOM discounts, shape a defensible report.
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Qualified Opportunity Fund Minority Interest Valuation: How Discounts Cut Your Tax Bill
A qualified opportunity fund minority interest valuation can lower the taxable gain you recognize when your deferral period ends on December 31, 2026. This guide explains how discounts for lack of control and marketability work, what documentation your appraiser needs, and who can prepare a defensible report.
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Donating Private Company Stock to Charity: Lessons From the Hoensheid Case
Donating private company stock to charity can produce a substantial tax deduction, but the IRS has disallowed deductions over bad timing, unqualified appraisers, and incomplete Form 8283 paperwork. This guide uses Estate of Hoensheid v. Commissioner to show donors exactly what to get right.
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