Corporate and M&A Insights — Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C. Firm News & Events

Corporate Transparency Act

Published on: August 10, 2023 | by Monica Vir

In an effort to combat money laundering and the funding of terrorism in the United States, the U.S. Department of Treasury has implemented the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”), which was enacted as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020. The CTA is effective January 1, 2024 and will require qualifying companies to report and file certain information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”). FinCEN plans to store this information in a secure nonpublic database called the Beneficial Ownership Secure System (“BOSS”), however, FinCEN is still developing the infrastructure of this system.

Who Must Report

The CTA requires entities qualifying as “reporting companies” to report the information noted below to FinCEN. Reporting companies are domestic corporations, limited liability companies, or other similar entities (or foreign entities that have filed to do business in the U.S.) that: (1) have 20 or fewer employees, (2) have less than $5,000,000 in gross receipts or sales as reflected in the previous year’s federal tax return, and (3) do not otherwise meet the requirements of one of the exemptions described in the CTA.

Divorce and the Business Owner

Published on: April 1, 2021 | by Frederick A. D'Arcangelo

Divorce attorneys are often asked the following question: “I am thinking about getting divorced. I own part of a family business. What should I be doing?”

There are two questions to ask before answering.

Do you have a buy-sell agreement?

Estate Planning With Family Businesses

Published on: February 25, 2021 | by Anne Marie Robbins

To the owners of family businesses, estate planning can sometimes be an after-thought. Owners are often so involved in building their business and managing its daily operations that they do not have time to devote to the planning that will become important when the owner is ready to hand over management control and ownership to successors. It is often the case with successful family businesses that there has been little or no thought given to the transition of management and ownership, with the result being there is no succession plan in place. Further, available strategies to transfer the ownership of the business to younger generations of the family in a tax-effective manner may not have been utilized.

When a family business is one of the assets, or perhaps the primary asset, a well thought out strategic and financial plan for the business and an estate plan for the family are critically important. The following is a brief and by no means exhaustive outline of some points to consider.

Strategic Planning

NJ Passes the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act

Published on: February 22, 2021 | by Robert W. Anderson

On December 17, 2020, the New Jersey legislature passed the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (the “Act”), providing the framework for legal adult recreational cannabis use in New Jersey. The Act lays out the ground rules for licensing arrangements for the cultivation, packaging, distribution, advertising, and retail sale of recreational cannabis to persons 21 years old or older. Governor Murphy signed the legislation into law on February 22, 2021.

It is important to note that the passage of the Act does not immediately make “street pot” legal—instead, it provides the roadmap for businesses to become licensed so that they may take part in the future legal adult recreational cannabis market in New Jersey. Cannabis, however, will no longer be a Schedule 1 controlled dangerous drug under New Jersey law (although it remains so at the Federal level).

Although the Act is over 200 pages long, it still requires that the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (“CRC”) develop regulations to flesh out the details of how these arrangements will all be put into practice. For example, there are currently no application forms to apply for any license to operate in the cannabis market in New Jersey. These forms, their instructions, and a host of other details all need to be developed before any business can apply for one of the required licenses. The CRC has been given 180 days to develop these enabling regulations and forms. That said, individuals and businesses interested in entering into this market will want to keep apprised of the details of these ongoing regulatory developments so that they can position themselves to have already put arrangements in place which will allow them to immediately move forward with the application process as soon as it becomes available.

SBA and U.S. Treasury Department Approve Simplified Paycheck Protection Program Forgiveness Application Materials

Published on: June 18, 2020 | by Robert W. Anderson

After receiving numerous complaints about the complexity of the loan forgiveness application form under the Paycheck Protection Program, the SBA and U.S. Department of Treasury on June 16, 2020 approved simplified versions of the forgiveness application. The original loan forgiveness application was 11 pages long, but now many borrowers under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) will be eligible to apply for forgiveness under a newly streamlined EZ version of the application which is only 3 pages long. Borrowers that cannot qualify to use the EZ version will be able to instead now use a 5-page SBA Form 3508.

To qualify for use of the EZ form, a borrower must be able to fit within at least one of the following three categories:

1. The borrower is a self-employed individual, independent contractor, or sole proprietor who had no employees at the time of the PPP application and did not include any employee salaries in the computation of average monthly salaries in the application.

Business Challenges You May Encounter in Bankruptcy

Published on: May 13, 2020 | by Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C.

Businesses need to prepare for the short and long term challenges that await as COVID-19 continues to impact the economy.

Lindabury is collaborating with Spector & Ehrenworth, a well respected New Jersey bankruptcy and creditors’ rights law firm, to assist clients with challenges they may face, including customers and vendors unable to meet their financial commitments, as well as cash flow or liquidity concerns.

Below are some issues you may encounter and with which our team can assist. Please contact us with any questions you may have.

Eric Levine Quoted in NJBIZ – “Show Me the Money: How to Counter the Growing Threat from Digital Con Artists”

Published on: June 17, 2019 | by Eric B. Levine

Eric Levine, co-chair of Lindabury’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy practice is quoted in a recent issue of NJBIZ regarding the growing digital threat often disguised as a legitimate-looking email. Eric says that when our firm receives an email in regards to a bank transaction, “We won’t cut a check against it until it clears our financial institution, and then we’ll wait up to another 10 days. It can be an inconvenience for a client, but this way we know the money is good.”

To read the full NJBIZ article click here.

Heated To A Boil: Experts Say N.J.’s Merger Market Is On Fire — And There Are Few Regrets

Published on: June 17, 2019 | by Robert W. Anderson

Robert Anderson was quoted in a recent article published by ROI-NJ regarding the current merger market.

“What’s making deals successful right now is the fact that, when the acquisitions are made, it’s in the context of a very good economy,” he said. “Even if you don’t find that operations are ideal at the company you’ve acquired, the fact that the economy itself is so strong — that tends to pull companies along regardless.”

You may read the full article here.

The Impact Of Tariffs: Advisers Fear One Casualty Of A Trade War Will Be Thriving Market For Mergers

Published on: June 25, 2018 | by Robert W. Anderson

In ROI-NJ’s recent article, Robert Anderson suggests the potential for the talk of trade wars to permeate other sectors of the economy, potentially adversely impacting other business segments. Worst case, this could make for a stifling of the free-for-all in business buying and selling that’s going on currently.

To read the full article online click here.

Merger Mania: 2018 Is Shaping Up As A Banner Year For M&A, According To The Advisers In The Middle Of The Deals

Published on: June 22, 2018 | by Robert W. Anderson

Robert Anderson, chair of Lindabury’s Mergers and Acquisitions group was recently interviewed by ROI-NJ in regards to the recently increase in M&A activity. Bob has indicated that the the last nine months have been his busiest of the past 30 years.

To read the full article online, click here.