Any successful business begins with a well-developed business strategy and a knowledgeable accounting firm behind you. Anything less can put you at risk for loss or even liquidation.

Tax Partners team of accountants are at your side from the initial planning phase through funding and implementation, and throughout the life of your business.

Our Business Startup consulting services include:

Tax Partners’ business valuation team has the training and experience necessary to assess the value of virtually any business. Our team works with you to understand and quantify the specific business issues that affect the value conclusion.

Calculation, Estimate, and Comprehensive Valuation Report options provide three different levels of assurance, each fulfilling different reporting requirements at varied costs. We will work with you to ensure the report is appropriate for your budget and requirements.

Valuation reports may be prepared for the following purposes:

Tax Partners’ business valuation team of professionals are also knowledgeable and experienced in providing services beyond traditional business valuation, including:

Buy-side services

We manage the entire buy process of transactions to ensure your goals are achieved.

Our buy-side services include:

Sell-side services

We manage the entire sale process of a business to ensure the final transaction is beneficial to our clients.

Our sell-side services include:

Due diligence services

Due diligence is a critical step in any acquisition process, as it mitigates risk and increases confidence that the transaction is based on sound and robust financial analysis.

Our due diligence professionals serve various clients across various industries through the M&A process. We leverage on our tax practice professionals to provide additional support for the due diligence process to ensure our approach is robust in identifying and mitigating financial risks.

Our Firm uses a systematic approach to ensure the process is timely and accurate, and also to ensure the highest level of quality in our due diligence procedures.

Our due diligence services:

Our due diligence approach is designed to identify and mitigate risks of a potential acquisition transaction, and to ensure that the client is paying a fair price for the target company.

Tax Partners team of professionals provides consulting services and complete business valuations. This service is a critical component of many transactions, including:

• Purchase, sale or reorganization of a business
• Shareholder and partnership agreements
• Matrimonial settlements
• Estate proceedings
• Tax Partners takes pride in providing accurate and objective valuations.

All businesses have a starting point, and that starting point is the business plan. By pulling together all the elements needed to determine the financial viability of your business proposal, Wilkinson can help you realize your ultimate goals.

Our business planning services include:

• Business plans, development and presentation
• Business restructuring and debt reorganization
• Acquisitions and financing
• Wealth building and restructuring
• Tax implications of proposed business structures
• Corporate reorganizations
• Sale of business
• Mergers and acquisitions

What would happen to your business if a partner died or became disabled? What if there’s a nasty dispute and a shareholder wants to leave the company? Or what if a partner divorces or goes into debt?

While you might not think they could happen to your business, “what if” scenarios like these happen all the time. This is one reason why businesses need well-crafted shareholder agreements to dictate next steps if one of these triggering events occurs. Without a strong shareholder agreement, the company may have to rely on the Business Corporations Act to determine what happens next. This process is often long, painful and costly — and the outcome may not be to the shareholders’ liking.

Following are a few common questions and answers regarding shareholder agreements: 

When do you need a shareholder agreement?

Tax Partners trusted advisor will tell you that a shareholder agreement is essential for all companies with more than one shareholder. It is among the first documents you should discuss with your partners, lawyer and your accountant.

The shareholder agreement should be discussed in calm times, long before a triggering event occurs. Shareholders should take time to discuss a plan of action, create a funding mechanism, agree on terms and work out all the details while the partnership relationship is in good working order.

How does a shareholder agreement work?

A shareholder agreement defines possible triggering events — e.g., death, disability, divorce, dispute and debt — and their consequences.

Death or disability: In the case of a shareholder death or disability, the agreement would dictate what would happen to his or her shares. Will the shares be passed on to survivors, or will there be a buyout by the other shareholders? If the latter, how will they pay for the stock? 

Divorce: Shareholders usually don’t want to be active partners with another shareholder’s ex-spouse. Therefore, the shareholder agreement should dictate how the business interest would be transferred to avoid that situation. 

Dispute: If the shareholders are in a dispute, the agreement defines how the relationship will end. Sometimes, a shotgun or auction exit clause is included to decide the price.  

Debt: If a shareholder is beset by overwhelming personal debt, a shareholder agreement can restrict the use of shares as payment for the debt and dictate that the other shareholders have rights of first refusal to purchase the shares. This keeps the bankrupt shareholder’s shares out of the hands of his or her creditors.

How do you decide on value?

The shareholder agreement should define a valuation process for each triggering event. For example, in the case of a shareholder’s death, the agreement could dictate an agreed-upon price, or it could detail how an independent valuation professional should be selected. Funding mechanisms such as life insurance should also be included in the agreement.

What are the tax consequences?

If the triggering event is also a taxable event, the shareholder agreement should provide guidance about how to handle the tax consequences. The tax consequences are different depending on whether the life insurance proceeds are used by the company or by the survivor to purchase the shares.

In the case of disability, share sales or redemptions are both taxable events. In divorce, shareholders may benefit from spousal rollover provisions — the agreement should allow flexible transfers to accommodate the associated taxes.

Like other legal agreements, shareholder agreements are only useful if they are current and up to date. Review your shareholder agreement at least once a year to be sure it still meets your needs.

For more information about shareholder agreements or if you would like us to assist you, please contact one of our trusted advisors.

At Tax Partners, we firmly believe that as your financing intermediaries — having initiated, consulted on, negotiated, structured and presided over billions of dollars’ worth of corporate buy- and sell-side transactions, acquisitions and divestitures, takeovers and management buyouts — our goal, always, is to help you take your business dealings further, faster, whatever stage you’re at in the transaction life cycle.

Serving boards, management teams, buyers and lenders, entrepreneurs, owner-managers and shareholders of both established and emerging mid-market public and private companies across most every major industry sector, we define goals, create a plan, evaluate targets, perform transaction modelling, conduct pre-sale due diligence, identify buyers, prepare confidential information memoranda, coordinate closings and more.