For privately held businesses, especially family-owned firms, the estate tax bite can be substantial. It may even force a business owner's heirs to sell the business.

With careful estate planning, owners of private businesses can often transfer wealth to their heirs without incurring estate or gift taxes. To maximize the amount that can be transferred without subjecting assets to estate taxes, advisors often recommend that business owners transfer stock to the next generation.

Transferring illiquid stock also reduces transfer-tax liability, because the stock's value is discounted for lack of liquidity.

Pluris Valuation Advisors uses all standard, accepted valuation methods, including cost, income and market approaches, to arrive at defensible valuations. Data from Bloomberg and other sources is used to derive market multiples.

The size of the discount taken is typically the most contentious issue between the taxpayer and the IRS. Our expertise in determining discounts and our exclusive access to marketability data from the LiquiStat™ database, provides our clients with a significant advantage and a defensible valuation.

For more information on our valuations of private company stock, contact Pluris today.