Buying and selling business assets can be complicated. The last thing you want – BELIEVE ME – is the hassle of explaining inconsistent treatment of the sale for tax purposes 3 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE. Avoiding this is simply accomplished by remembering to file one extra tax form. Basically the US tax law requires both the seller and purchaser of a group of assets that makes up a trade or business to file IRS Form 8594 to report the sale if:

1. Goodwill or going concern value attaches, or could attach, to such assets.
2. The purchaser’s basis in the assets is determined only by the amount paid for the assets. In other words no other substantiation of market value … Read More