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Monthly Archives: September 2020

We have distilled decades of experience at the intersection of law, business and finance into a suite of articles to help our clients make sense of business valuation, forensic accounting, and litigation support. Please visit our site regularly for our latest content.

Analytical Tools For Attorneys

Posted in Business Valuation, on Sep 2020, By: Mark S. Gottlieb

  For those of you familiar with our valuation and forensic reports, you know first-hand that we use various tools to analyze and illustrate the financial capacity of a subject company. To examine financial characteristics, we often compare the subjects’ financial ratios to their peer group. For example, the subject company may report travel and entertainment expenses as 5.0% of annual sales. If the subject company reports T&E at 15.0% of sales, further investigation may indicate that this category contains excess owners’ perquisites. To illustrate these and other financial trends, we use charts and other demonstratives. One of my favorite analytical tools is a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses generally refer to: • Financial resources (funding, sources of income, and investment opportunities) • Physical resources (location, facilities, and equipment) • Human resources (employees, volunteers, and target audiences) • Access to natural resources, trademarks, patents, and copyrights, and • Current processes (employee programs, department hierarchies, and software systems) While opportunities and threats consider: • Market trends (new products, technology advancements, and shifts in audience needs) • Economic trends (local, national, and international financial trends) • Funding (donations, legislature, and other sources) • Demographics • Relationships with suppliers and partners • Political, environmental, and economic regulation We commonly illustrate the SWOT analysis in chart form, which draws the reader’s attention to those areas of greatest significance. Another tool we frequently use is Michael Porter’s Five Forces theory. For those of […]


Do You Remember When Alimony Was Deductible?

Posted in Divorce & Matrimony, on Sep 2020, By: Mark S. Gottlieb

As the summer nears its conclusion, those individuals that previously applied for an extension to file their 2019 individual income tax returns are becoming increasingly aware of the impending October 15th deadline. Couples that divorced after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 are already cognizant of the changes affecting alimony.   Before the TCJA, alimony received was taxable to the recipient, and deducted, dollar for dollar, by the payer in the determination of their adjusted gross income. Thus, deductibility of alimony historically provided specific incentives in negotiating a divorce settlement. For couples divorcing after the TCJA, the payment and receipt of alimony is neither deductible nor taxable. In many instances, this change has created a significant tax burden for those paying alimony. While this change has been effective now for several years, our firm still get requests from attorneys to quantify the lost tax benefit resulting from the change in the tax law. Today, we revisit how this change affects those paying alimony. Let us take for example a taxpayer (filing single and utilizing the standard deduction) who earns a salary of $75,000 per year and pays annual alimony of $21,000. As the following table illustrates, the taxpayer’s income tax liability will increase by $6,700 or 71.3% resulting from of the tax law change. OLD LAW NEW LAW Wages $ 75,000 $ 75,000 Alimony 21,000 0 Adjusted Gross Income 54,000 75,000 Standard Deduction Filing Single Taxable Income $ 41,800 $ 62,800 Federal Taxes 5,100 9,700 NY State […]