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Business valuations for estate tax filings, supporting accurate Form 706 reporting under Revenue Ruling 59-60. AppraiseItNow provides defensible fair market value opinions for closely held business interests, helping executors substantiate discounts.
IRS Form 706 Qualified…I am looking forward to utilizing AppraiseItNow for many years to come
DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT BUSINESS APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, PROBATE COURTS, AND ESTATE ATTORNEYS.
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Owner & CEO
Joe founded AppraiseItNow to make a certified, USPAP-compliant appraisal as simple to order as anything else online. A former Bain & Company strategy consultant, Joe leads the entire team and specializes in strategy, growth, and the firm's tech capabilities.
Business Valuation Expert & Appraiser
ASA, ABV, and CFA charterholder. Since 2016 Justin has valued businesses for estate and gift tax, purchase price allocations, fairness opinions, lending, and buy-sell agreements, across manufacturing, services, retail, and pre-revenue biotech.
Business Valuation Expert & Appraiser
Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers. Raymond values capital stock, business enterprises, stock options, and intangible assets.
Client Success Manager
Manages each engagement from the first enquiry to the delivered report, and keeps you posted at every step along the way.
American Society of AppraisersAccredited Senior Appraiser
The Appraisal FoundationAuthorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standardsWhen a decedent's estate includes an ownership interest in a closely held business, that interest must be reported at fair market value on IRS Form 706 if the gross estate exceeds the federal filing threshold. Under IRC Section 2031 and Revenue Ruling 59-60, executors are required to substantiate value using a qualified appraisal prepared by a credentialed, independent appraiser. Our business valuation practice covers the full range of privately held interests, from sole proprietorships and family partnerships to multi-member LLCs and closely held corporations, applying income, market, and asset-based approaches as required.
AppraiseItNow delivers these valuations both online and onsite across the United States. Our appraisers meet IRS qualified appraiser standards and hold credentials from recognized professional organizations including ASA and AMEA. Whether you need support for a straightforward single-owner business or a complex entity with minority interest discounts, our estate tax valuation services are built to withstand IRS scrutiny.
AppraiseItNow appraises a wide range of business ownership interests that commonly appear in taxable estates, including:
Our process and deliverables are designed to meet IRS requirements and support executors, estate attorneys, and CPAs throughout the Form 706 filing process.
Discounts for lack of control and lack of marketability can reduce the value reported on Form 706 substantially, which is exactly why IRS engineers examine them. Every discount we apply is tied to the specific interest, its rights, its restrictions, and its liquidity.
Independent by rule
Unbiased does not mean undiscounted.
We do not start from the number you would like to report. We start from the interest itself: its rights, its restrictions, its liquidity. The discount is whatever that evidence supports, and the report walks an IRS reviewer through every step. Three things keep the conclusion independent:
DLOC
A minority holder cannot set distributions, compensation, or the timing of a sale, so a buyer pays less for the interest than for a controlling stake.
What we examine to size it:
DLOM
Closely held shares have no ready market, and the time and cost of finding a buyer make the interest worth less than freely traded stock.
What we examine to size it:
These discounts are not an appraiser’s courtesy. Decades of IRS guidance, Tax Court decisions and market evidence define them, and the same sources are what an examiner reads:
The IRS framework for valuing closely held stock: eight factors, among them the size of the block being valued and the market for it.
The first large study of what buyers paid for restricted shares, and the start of decades of restricted stock and pre-IPO studies. The IRS recognized their relevance in Revenue Ruling 77-287.
A family member’s shares are valued as what they are, not as part of the family’s combined control, and lack of marketability is a discount in its own right.
The IRS accepted minority discounts on transfers to family members even where the family as a whole controls the company, reversing its earlier position in Revenue Ruling 81-253.
Judge Laro’s list of factors for sizing a marketability discount, still the checklist courts, the IRS and appraisers work from.
The guide the IRS wrote for its own valuation analysts, cataloguing the restricted stock studies, pre-IPO studies and analytical models that support a discount for lack of marketability.
Every discount we apply is supported with empirical evidence, including restricted stock studies and market transaction data, and documented under the Revenue Ruling 59-60 framework. The facts of each interest determine the discount; we never apply a preset percentage.
What clients say we are known for
Across 80+ published AppraiseItNow reviews the picture is consistent: every one is from a client who paid us for an appraisal, and the three things they raise most often are that they would hire us again, how quickly we answer, and how much research is visible in the report.
Responsive, professional, first class deliverables -- especially considering that that the appraised assets are extremely complex financial assets with little by way of comps. The deliverable satisfied my accountants and advisers as being more than adequate to support the valuation needed to complete a conversion to a Roth IRA
Business Valuation Appraisal for IRA Conversion
Joe and Aron were extremely impressive - the entire process went very smoothly. They were always quick to respond to any questions I had and could not have been more helpful. They were aware of some tight time restrictions I had and made sure I received my reports in a timely fashion. I highly recommend them to anyone needing a valuation.
Business Valuation Appraisal for Charitable Donation
I used AppraiseItNow to examine a contribution to a foundation. Their work was quick, thorough, and easy to work with, as they’ve developed a simple system for uploading documents. I plan to use them again.
Business Valuation Appraisal for Charitable Donation
The team was highly knowledgeable, helpful, and efficient. I highly recommend their appraisal services, especially for private companies.
Business Valuation Appraisal for IRA Conversion
I found them professional & responsive. The report was quite thorough as well.
Business Valuation Appraisal for Charitable Donation
From the start they were very responsive, price competitive, and had a quick turn around time. Thank you so much to Joe who was very sweet in responding to my emails; I am looking forward to utilizing AppraiseItNow for many years to come.
Very thorough and professional — great communication and outstanding service. Highly impressed with their work!
Federal estate tax requires fair market value as defined in Treasury Regulation 20.2031-1: the price a hypothetical willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither under compulsion and both reasonably informed, measured at the date of death. Alternative standards such as investment value or intrinsic value are not accepted for estate tax reporting, and neither is a price negotiated within the family.
It requires the appraiser to analyze the company's history, financial condition, earning capacity, dividend-paying capacity, goodwill, prior sales of the stock, the size of the block being valued, and comparable companies rather than applying a single formula. The IRS expects the report to identify the exact ownership interest, the valuation date, and the income, market, or asset approaches used, supported by financial data.
Because discounts for lack of control and lack of marketability can reduce the reported value substantially, the IRS examines whether they are justified by evidence about the specific interest's size, rights, transfer restrictions, and liquidity. Estate tax disputes over closely held businesses frequently center on discount magnitude, so we document the support for every discount applied rather than citing generic percentages.
No. Estate tax is based on fair market value, not original cost or balance-sheet equity, and IRS examiners cite Revenue Ruling 59-60 to reject valuations that rely on book value alone. Earning power, cash flows, goodwill, and market comparables must enter the analysis, and marketable securities must be valued from market quotations around the valuation date.