When you have a business that is a going concern, you’re naturally worried about how it’s going to be after yo move into retirement. The first thought that will probably occur to you, is to hand it over to your children to manage.

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However, doing this in a simple way is not easy. You want to legally hand over your business in such a way that it’s not considered a liquidation, and also not a gift. Both of these, will attract a tax that you may not have forseen.

Your business is going to be valued according to what the Market deems is ‘Fair Value’. Grafton ‘Cap’ Willey of accounting and consulting firm Tofias PC, says that a transfer of over $12,000 will attract gift tax. In addition, if it’s a partnership, say between yourself and your wife, it is considered liquidated if more than half of the holdings change. In this case, it’s very important as to how the business is transferred.

A tax professional is a must here to examine all the ramifications of such a move. You need to be aware of these issues before you rush into anything.

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A continuing downtrend in Nevada sales as of February has caused increased worries about the State’s budget deficit, Nevada Officials reveal. They are bracing for the worse to come and are expecting the shortfall to approach $1 billion by mid-2009.

Sales have gone down February to $3.62 billion, a 5.4 percent decrease from the same month the previous year. Since the start of the fiscal year last July, sales are down 2.3 percent compared with the same period in the prior fiscal year.

The report shows the state’s cut of sales taxes so far this fiscal year is $635.2 million, $75 million or 7.1 percent below forecasts. It follows a recent Gaming Control Board report that the state’s taxes on casino winnings are nearly $50 million, or 8 percent, below forecasts for the same period.

“The February economic numbers show that Nevada’s economy is experiencing many of the same challenges that are being seen in other states across the country.

“Clearly, the drop in consumer spending is having an adverse effect on revenues, as is the nationwide housing problem which is particularly acute in Nevada,” Gov. Jim Gibbons said.

Taxes on the casinos and on sales are the two largest revenue sources for state government. The slump in those revenues is a key part of an analysis that the state’s revenue shortfall will hit $914 million by mid-2009. An update of that analysis is expected in late May.

The current shortfall estimate hasn’t included the impact of a Nevada Supreme Court decision last month that a tax refund is due a hotel-casino on free meals provided to patrons and employees.

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Starting Monday, in an attempt to offset the rising costs of food and gas, the government will distribute tax rebate checks to tax-payers.

“This money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we’re seeing at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and will also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown,” President George Bush said Friday.

The rebate will serve as a one-time tax cut based on tax-payers’ 2007 incomes. By July, the Treasury will have disbursed more than $110 billion to 130 million taxpayers.

This, the government says, will hopefully stimulate the flagging economy by putting some extra cash in people’s pockets.

As to who will get the first checks will depend on the two digits of their Social Security numbers, when they filed their ‘07 tax forms and whether they’ve chosen to have them directly deposited to their own accounts.

Taxpayers who opt for direct deposit will get their payments soonest. These checks are expected to have already been deposited into the bank accounts of 7.4 million people by the end of next week.

The expectation is that most people will have received their payments by July 11.