Family Business & Your Estate
If you own a family business, you eventually will have to decide when to step down, and then how to do it. Many estate planning tools can be used to transfer your business, but selecting the right one will depend, in part, on whether you plan to retire and let someone else run it for you, sell it, give it away, or keep running the business until you die. Since some options have tax ramifications, you need to discuss them not only with an estate attorney, but with an accountant or financial planner, as well.
You want to transfer a business at its full value, but careful planning is essential so that some, or all, of the business assets will not need to be sold to pay income, gift and potential estate taxes, perhaps leaving little for your beneficiaries. Business succession planning should include ways to ensure the continuity of your business, as well as ways to accomplish this with the least tax consequences.
You should not put off succession planning. If you do, your business may have to be sold to someone outside the family to pay taxes, or family squabbles may result. Here are some tips to help ensure a smooth transition from one generation to the next.
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Kindly visit our Advanced Estate Planning and Business Succession Planning websites or contact one of our Business Succession Planning Attorneys, Philadelphia or Estate Planning Attorneys, Philadelphia for more information on this topic.