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Friday, September 02 2022
Before You Sell Your Payroll Service To Your Kids, Read This Article

Before You Sell Your Payroll Service
To Your Kids, Read This Article

By Glenn Fallavollita, President - SellMorePayroll.com Drip Marketing, Inc.

  • Word Count: 714
  • Read Time: 2.9 Minutes

So, you have built a successful payroll service, and you are now considering the idea of selling your business to one of your children(s). And as with many decisions in life, you need to think through the process to ensure a smooth transition to this transaction.

Staggering Facts To Consider:

According to Businessweek.com, 2010…

  • ~40% of U.S. family-owned businesses transition to a second-generation business.
  • ~13% are passed down successfully to a third generation.
  • ~3% survive to a fourth generation or beyond.

In an article by Beau Ruff, Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, he wrote the following:

Gift Rules Apply

"A business can be gifted, but how does one determine if any part of the business transition is a gift?

  • Any time a person sells an asset (including the family business) below fair market value to a child, the seller must analyze the application of gifting rules (and the associated gift tax).
  • Gifting applies to the total sale price but could also apply to other parts of the transaction, such as the interest rate charged on an installment sale note (where the parents effectively loan a portion of the purchase price to the child buyer)."

To read this article in full, CLICK HERE.

Reasonable sale price?

  • The responsible solution is to get the business appraised by a qualified business valuation expert. This allows a competent third party to evaluate business metrics for an unbiased view of value. Once a clear value is established, it can then be used to later drive other components of the business transition strategy.
  • Whether the interest rate charged by the seller parent to the buyer child is a gift is more straightforward. The IRS monthly publishes the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) which is used to determine if the interest rate charged gets into gift territory. The long-term (over nine years) AFR for May 2022 is 2.66% (compounded annually).

Accordingly, this sets the floor for the minimum long-term interest to be charged on the sale of the business to avoid the implication of the gifting rules.

Favorable timeline

Parents often structure these sales with the minimum amount of down payment, carry the loan for a period longer than a typical third-party sale, and charge lower interest on the contract balance.

  • For example, a parent trying to avoid the implication of gifting (but still create favorable terms for the child) might require no down payment, a 10-year installment plan, and 2.66% interest on the declining balance (based on the May 2022 AFR).

Partial gift

A common misunderstanding regards the limits of gifting.

  • The federal gift annual exclusion allows parents to make gifts of up to $16,000 without any reporting requirements, but parents can gift much more than that.
  • For example, under current law, a couple can gift a total of $22.12 million during their lifetimes before being required to pay any gift tax, but that couple would be required to file a federal gift tax return.
  • And, if a couple made a gift that large, it would entirely eliminate their estate tax credit thus pushing all assets remaining to the 40% tax level at death. Accordingly, a gift that large should be heavily scrutinized.
  • More likely, the parents might choose to gift, say $1 million, out of a total business value of $5 million. Then, the child has instant equity in the business and the parents can help to finance the remaining $4 million purchase price. This too would require filing a gift tax return, but no gift tax would be owed.

To read this article in full, CLICK HERE.


About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help payroll service owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books; Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

Posted by: SellMorePayroll.com AT 07:39 am   |  Permalink   |  Email