Business Estate & Succession Planning

Effective transition of your business to your successors is critical to its continued prosperity. With a solid background in tax, succession and estate planning, and other financial matters, we are fully qualified to address the complex issues of business continuation.

If you own a family business, retirement isn't simply a matter of deciding not to go into the office anymore. You've got some critical questions to answer like...

"What happens to the business when you're no longer running it?"

and

"Will you have enough money to retire?"

The family dynamic complicates the whole transition because of the relationships and emotions involved. Most people are not comfortable discussing topics such as ageing, death, and financial affairs.

Comfortable or not, succession planning should be a priority for any family business considering that more than seven out of ten family-owned businesses fail to survive the transition from founder to the second generation, typically falling prey either to estate taxes or family discord - or both.

Developing and implementing a well-designed succession plan is essential to the survival of a family business from one generation to the next.

We help you with these key issues:

• Keeping it in the family
  • Are you going to pass the business on to your family or sell it to a third party? We help you weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each of these options.
• Who's going to run the business when you're gone?
  • Management and ownership are not one and the same. You may decide to transfer management of your business to just one of your children but transfer equal shares of business ownership to all your children, whether they're actively involved in the business or not.
• Minimizing the tax bite
  • The tax burden when transitioning a family business can be significant. The challenge is that a family business is not generally a liquid asset, but taxes are typically due when ownership is transferred.
• Making it fair
  • Transferring family ownership often adds a tremendous amount of stress to individual family members. We talk with each of the family members to ensure that they feel they a getting an equitable and fair share of the pie.

What we do for you: 

Once we understand how you feel about the key issues above, we begin constructing your succession plan focusing on these 5 issues...

1. Business Valuation
2. Business Restructuring
3. Tax Consequences
4. Retirement Projections
5. Tax Projections

Estate Planning and Your Business

The saying goes, the only two things guaranteed in life are “death” and “taxes”. Even if that is true, you can take advantage of various tax strategies to reduce the income tax that is triggered on death. The lower the tax the greater the funds available to your heirs. By taking a bit of time to plan ahead, they will thank you for undertaking some of the steps.

Although it’s never pleasant to think of our own passing, the possibility of paying less tax usually brings a smile to your face. There are a number of ways you can reduce the income tax exposure you may have at death. To save your family the heartbreaking trouble of dealing with unanswered questions arising from your death, you should act now while you have time to think about the options and put the plan into place.

If you avoid planning for your estate, you may leave a significant income tax liability when you are gone. Death and death taxes happen simultaneously and you may find that in this situation a significant portion of your income is taxed in a top tax bracket, therefore losing about 45 percent to the CRA.

Effective estate planning facilitates the orderly transfer of assets to your beneficiaries and provides security for your surviving spouse. The primary goal is to devise a plan to reduce or eliminate the tax due on the transfer of your business and other assets. For business owners, providing for business continuity and succession of ownership is essential. We can guide you through the complex process of getting your financial affairs in order.

Our services include: advice from estate planning professionals; retirement planning & will planning with a focus on simplifying difficult tasks, reducing tax liability and avoiding family conflicts that may occur. Let us help you pass on what's taken a lifetime to build by requesting a Free Consultation by contacting us by email or by making an appointment.