When your business goes through a transaction, there are many people involved to make sure the process goes smoothly. One of those people is a tax advisor, so when is the best time to get one involved? Find out from PKF Texas Tax Director, Chris Dodd, CPA, and Tax Senior Manager, Thang Ngo, CPA, in this episode of PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook®.
Jen: This is the PKF Texas – Entrepreneurs Playbook®. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m here with Chris Dodd and Thang Ngo, two of our Approachable Advisors™ on our tax team. Welcome to the Playbook, gentlemen.
Chris and Thang: Thank you. Good to be here, Jen.
Jen: So, we’ve talked over the years about various transaction-related items, and we’ve never really focused on the tax side of a transaction. So, when should a business owner bring in a tax team to look at a deal?
Chris: Great question, Jen. We look for that sweet spot to preserve optionality as far as the transaction, and that’s the pre-letter of intent. So, before you’ve kind of gone down, you’ve set terms, you said this is going to be an equity sale; this is going to be an asset sale. We can take a step back and provide you the different options and possibilities for the transaction. It helps get the buyer or seller – whichever one you’re going to be – it gets you comfortable with the transaction and all the possibilities so that we are proactive in the process versus reactive.
Jen: Now, who typically brings you in? Is it an attorney? Is it the business owner? Is it a banker? Where does that come in?
Chris: It comes from everywhere actually. It comes from the lawyer, who may be the general counsel. It may be the banker, who the seller knows and has a relationship with, or it may be the valuation. We’d like to get clients who are… they have that first inkling that, “Hey, I think I want to take some chips off the table.” They go and get a valuation, and they say, “Hey, you need to make sure that your stuff is in order.” And then that’s when we sometimes get approached.
Thang: Yeah. And I agree with Chris. The best time that you reach out to us to talk to us is before you’re even sending out a letter of intent. It helps us to model out your potential transaction can show that’s the good, sounds good with the intent of the transaction, and we can help to make sure that the transaction follows the letter of intent.
Jen: Perfect. Awesome. Well, we’ll get you guys back to talk about some more transaction-related things. Sound good?
Chris: Yes, it does. Thank you.
Jen: Perfect. This has been another Thought Leader production brought to you by PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook®. For more information about this and other topics, visit PKFTexas.com. Tune in next week for another chapter.