Business Valuation and Federal Taxes: Procedure, Law and Perspective, 2nd Edition

Foreword to Second Edition

The Honorable David Laro and Dr. Shannon Pratt present a comprehensive primer on federal tax valuation controversies that will benefit both tax practitioners (attorneys and CPAs) and valuation practitioners.

I use the term “primer” because the book introduces the attorney/CPA to an area—the mechanics of valuation—with which many tax practitioners are unfamiliar, and introduces the valuation professional to an area—the mechanics of federal tax disputes—with which many valuation practitioners are similarly unfamiliar. The book will assist both the tax practitioner representing the client in a federal tax dispute and the valuation professional engaged to render an expert opinion to better understand the area of expertise in which each operates. It will serve to “bridge the gap” of understanding between tax and valuation practitioners which, in my experience, is key to effectively presenting a client's position and the independent expert's opinion of value to a court.

The Second Edition introductory material on standards of value and subsequent events will prove to be useful to both the tax and valuation practitioner in understanding the underlying basis for a valuation performed for a federal tax matter. The discussion of business valuation experts will assist the tax practitioner in assessing the qualifications of potential valuation experts. While the choice of an expert when a dispute arises is important, in my experience the potential of future tax ...