San Francisco is known these days as the “capital of tech.” Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, Google – they all call the San Francisco Bay Area home. Tech, tech, tech, tech. We are the city of tech. But there’s much more to San Francisco than just our vibrant tech and startup scene. While we do plenty of consulting and help for San Francisco tech businesses, including start ups, we also do lots of work helping more “traditional” mom and pop San Francisco businesses. Among the topics: succession planning. This month’s lively San Francisco Tax Tips newsletter talks about this in detail.
To quote –
Passing on your company to a family member can pose problems. Intra-family dynamics should be considered, which may not be the case if your successor is an outsider.Moreover, there are several methods of relinquishing ownership, all of which may be closely scrutinized by the IRS.
Yikes! If you have a successful family business, you should really consider succession planning. We can help, and of course, the best time to do this planning is NOW before a crisis. One of the sticky wickets is the business valuation. We can help you with strategies for cross-generation transfers of assets, doing everything legally possible to mitigate the tax bite. They say “you can’t take it with you,” which is true, but you can “leave it behind,” and better to your children, friend’s or favorite San Francisco philanthropic organization than to the IRS.
While we’re on the topic of philanthropy, here are some resources / links to San Francisco philanthropic organizations –
- United Way of the Bay Area – this is an umbrella organization uniting many of the city’s best charities.
- San Francisco Catholic Charities – a catholic organization working for the poor.
- Endangered Species International – an organization dedicated to protecting and preserving wildlife, across the world.
- Project Homeless Connect – an organization fighting poverty and homelessness in San Francisco.
So, in sum, whether you choose to bequeath your family business to your friends or family, or to a deserving non-profit, we can help. Our estate planning division helps with all of the tough and complex issues of family successoin.
