Preserving Your Estate

We've already touched on the importance of preserving your estate and the value of your business. As a business owner, there are a number of steps you can take to protect your business assets. In addition to good management and insurance, you may want to consider the use of a holding company for real estate assets or your business itself for both liability and tax reasons. If creditor claims are made against the operating company, the real estate may be sheltered from these claims.

A holding company can also be useful if your business generates cash flow in excess of amounts required for business investments and cash paid to you as a salary or dividend. If a holding company holds the shares of your operating company, the excess cash can be paid to the holding company as a dividend on a regular basis, and again this cash may be protected from creditors. The intercompany dividend will generally be tax-free.