If you’re still trying to figure out whether and how your practice should have a social media strategy, don’t worry—lots of other folks are too. This simple graphic should help you understand your choices: It’s really quite simple once you break it down. . . . and we know a lot of you have spent time as expert witnesses, or doing litigation preparedness work for your clients. But are you ready to go up against a firm like this?
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Estate of Natale B. Giustina v. Commissioner What happens when a case lands in the United States Tax Court where Form 706 found the fair market value of a business share at $12.6 million and the IRS estimates it’s worth $36 million? Find out, in Estate of Natale B. Giustina v. Commissioner! At issue was a 41 percent share in a closely held timber company. Meanwhile, in the Delaware Chancery Court, In re Answers Corp. Shareholders Litigation finds plaintiff shareholders arguing to enjoin the sale of the company because they believed it was of higher worth. The Court finds the…
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Dentist’s Employment Contract Kills Personal Goodwill Argument – Ninth Circuit Rules Peter J. Reilly on Forbes.com: Tax planners generally think that clients are well served by their thoroughness. I have little doubt that this is generally the case. Every once in a while, though, that little bit of extra work can be counterproductive. In the case of Dr. Howard the extra step, that a less thorough planner might have neglected was the employment contract between Dr. Howard, the dentist and the Howard Corporation of which he was the sole shareholder. The Howard Corporation was a C corporation and when…
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SEC Wakes Up to Reverse Merger Companies Weeks after several Chinese reverse-merger companies have stopped trading in the US amid widespread fraud allegations, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a warning that, hey, maybe investors ought to think twice about those reverse-merger companies. Okey doke! Mark Gongloff relays from the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investor bulletin that said “there have been instances of fraud and other abuses involving reverse merger companies” and that investors “should be careful” when they consider investing in the companies’ stocks. The SEC has said it is investigating the…
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Calculation Engagement vs Valuation Engagement. In April, QuickRead featured some analysis of In Re: Marriage of Hagar in our Case Law—State section. At issue in Hagar was the difference between a Calculation Engagement and a Valuation Engagement. The Calculation Engagement the husband in the case presented was deemed unsuitable by a judge, in this particular case, because it the valuator admittedly didn’t “use judgment.” NACVA member Charlotte Reith, CPA, CVA, CFF, of The Reith Company in Pasadena, CA wrote in to say she thought our analysis “is giving calculation engagements a bad name and is misleading. A rule of thumb valuation [used in Hagar] is not a calculation of…