Law Commons^™

Valuation Of Closely-Held Stock For Federal Tax Purposes: Approach To An Objective Method, Joseph O'Meara, Lyle R. Johnson, Eli Shapiro

Journal Articles

The present double-standard approach to the valuation problem discriminates against owners of closely-held stock, that is, corporate shares which have no public market. The disparity of treatment is traceable to the unfortunate fact that, whereas actual sales or bona fide bid and asked prices govern the valuation for federal tax purposes of listed stocks and of unlisted stocks which "are dealt in through brokers or have a market," the criteria employed in valuing closely-held stock are predominantly subjective. This makes a paradise for "experts" but they seldom agree and few, if any, of their assumptions and conclusions are anything more …