Taxation of Small Businesses and Succession Planning

This course covers the tax consequences of forming, operating, and transitioning small businesses, with a focus on the legal forms most often used, including partnerships and LLCs. Topics include organization and operation of small businesses, distribution of assets, and succession. Students explore the effect tax law has on business and economic decisions, such as choice of legal entity, forms of compensation, modes of distributing assets to enterprise owners.  Significant time is reserved for detailed and practical analysis devoted to small business income and small business exclusions and deductions and everyday issues concerning about hardware depreciation, excess inventory, and writing off business related debt. Equal time is given to the personal tax issues of small business owners and their families and the mechanics of documentation and record keeping to maintain the separation of business and personal taxation. Included, too, throughout the course, are segments highlighting the related and different tax issues affecting home-based businesses and their owners.