Intellectual Assets

Among the devices most overlooked by privately owned businesses for tax planning, estate planning & asset protection is the use of Intellectual Property.

This Act that made it all possible.

“Today, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (“DTSA”) into law, bringing trade secrets alongside trademarks, copyrights and patents as intellectual property rights protected under federal law.” May 23, 2016.

Intellectual property is a term for intangible creations of human intellect. In businesses that often takes the form of patents, copyrights, web sites, trade name, business name, URLs, copyrights, trade secrets, customer lists, etc. Privately owned businesses seldom recognize & value them. Every business has unrecognized intellectual property. Failing to recognize your intellectual assets puts it at risk, makes you more susceptible to audit and increases your income tax. Most businesses never recognize or value intellectual assets. As a rule of thumb, we often recognize & value intellectual assets for tax planning, estate tax planning and asset protection. Generally we move the specific assets, now documented, out of the operating company and place then in another company which is less at risk of lawsuit & seizure by a hostile actor. Your personal name and your operating company are both bad choices to hold intellectual assets.Done right, it is possible to suffer a debilitating lawsuit and open up the next day with little more than a hiccup.

The goal is, even if you lose a tremendous lawsuit, you will be able to open up the next day with all your vital assets in place without missing a beat. This is also a great estate planning tool & a great tax planning tool.