Ad Valorem

Discharge of Debt

Transfer Pricing

Tax Court Disputes

Tax Valuation Opinions

The valuation professionals at Marshall & Stevens are relied upon by taxpayers and tax authorities to provide value opinions of businesses, equity, debt, intangible assets, equipment, and real estate for tax planning, reporting, and dispute purposes.

Valued Experts in Corporate and Personal Tax

Attorneys, accountants, wealth managers and other trusted advisors refer their clients to Marshall & Stevens in order to facilitate the following transactions:

CORPORATE TAX MATTERS

PERSONAL TAX MATTERS

TAX DISPUTES

For more information, please contact one of the professionals listed below.

How Marshall & Stevens can help with Tax Valuation

Our Tax Valuation team collaborates with our internal multi-disciplinary professionals to provide the value analyses and fresh independent opinions to fiduciaries, financing sources and investors for public and private company transactions.

Property Tax Valuation Services

Property taxes are applied ad valorem, meaning based on the assessed value of the property.

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Dispute Resolution and Expert Witness Services

Tax professionals across the country refer their clients to Marshall & Stevens for Cost Segregation.

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Estate and Gift Tax

Our in-house valuation, consulting, and litigation professionals are engaged to assist with wealth preservation, tax reporting, and matters of dispute.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Marshall & Stevens meets the IRS’ “Qualified Appraiser” standard, valuing real estate, businesses, intangible assets, and equipment for estate and gift tax reporting purposes.

  • Marshall & Stevens performs portfolio valuations for a large and diverse pool of investments and investment funds.

  • Marshall & Stevens provides forensic accounting, valuations, damages calculations, consulting, and expert witness testimony in a wide variety of litigation and arbitration cases.

  • Marshall & Stevens provides valuations of businesses, as well as equity and debt investments for use in estate and gift tax, IRC 409a, ESOP reporting, succession planning, financing and recapitalization, litigation, etc.

  • Marshall & Stevens performs real estate appraisals for financing, estate and gift tax planning and reporting, buy/sell consideration, insurance, easements, property tax, and litigation.

  • Marshall & Stevens provides appraisals of machinery, equipment, vehicles, and special purpose property for financing, financial reporting, property tax, insurance, and litigation.

  • Most companies are diligent about adding acquired assets to their books. A large percentage of companies do not focus on eliminating assets from their books when sold or retired. The asset may have reached a $0 depreciable value, but each asset costs money when it comes to the replacement value for insurance purposes. Why does a 200-bed hospital have 500 beds on its asset list? Why does a 600-seat multiscreen movie theatre have 1,000 seats on its books and a projector from 1993?

  • A 409a analysis (IRS section 409a) refers to valuing the class of equity provided to parties without remuneration (as an incentive) for federal tax reporting purposes. The analysis is also required for financial reporting purposes (FASB ASC 718). The analysis typically requires a valuation of the underlying business or assets. Sometimes we can backsolve a value for the equity based upon a recent subject company transaction.

  • Real estate should be looked at strategically for potential beneficial tax reporting, financial reporting, depreciation including cost segregation and bonus depreciation, financing including sale leaseback, etc.

    The fair market value of acquired real estate is often much higher than the seller’s capitalized basis and the allocation between land (not depreciable) and improvements (depreciable) is often different than what the assessor has determined.

    For financial reporting, the value of acquired real estate needs to be allocated to land, building and improvements, and intangible assets.

  • The accelerated depreciation benefits (tax savings) from a cost segregation analysis on acquired real estate (sometimes just tenant improvements) can typically pay for a material percentage of the transaction costs and/or multiple financing payments.

  • Financial reporting compliance requires a determination of fair lease rate.

    A large percentage of transactions include lease agreements that are not at current fair market value. This is more often the case when the owner of the business is also the owner of the real estate.

    In the acquisition of a medical practice, for instance, the acquiror must not pay a higher than market rate to acquire or lease the property from the seller.

  • Each audit firm has their preference for the way certain financial instruments should be valued. We initiate a call with the audit team before performing the analyses to reduce the potential for delays and surprises.

  • Our specialists have a great deal of experience providing financial reporting valuations for compliance with international and domestic accounting standards.

  • We review financial projections against past performance, comparable company performance, and industry forecasts. We ask for support from our clients, as necessary, to make us comfortable with their projections and to provide an explanation in our valuation report.

  • We focus on efficiency. Our team includes senior valuation professionals with experience working at international audit firms – they did the same review work your audit firm valuation professionals do – making them a great resource to our clients. These specialists understand the materiality thresholds while meeting regulatory requirements.

    We provide negative and positive assurance letters upon request.

  • There is often a material depreciation benefit to stepping up the value of acquired assets vs taking them over at book value. We provide preliminary estimates to determine if the fair value step up of the acquired assets is worthwhile to the acquiror.

    We also find that sellers’ asset lists typically include a material percentage of assets no longer in use (“ghost assets”). Cleaning up the asset list can benefit a buyer in numerous ways:

    • Reducing goodwill

    • Not paying for insurance and property tax on assets that don’t exist.

    • Complying with audit requirements to have control of their assets.

The Marshall & Stevens Difference

Marshall & Stevens provides Fairness and Solvency Opinions, valuation analyses, investigative accounting, and expert witness services to assist public and private clients with their important transactions and litigation matters.

Our Locations

Client Highlights

Here are a few client success stories from public and private companies we’ve worked with

Tax Valuation Contacts at Marshall & Stevens

Jonathan Adelson

JD, LLM

Managing Director

Background

Jonathan Adelson is a Managing Director, Business Development with Marshall & Stevens.

Mr. Adelson joined Marshall & Stevens in 2024. He leads business development efforts with public and private companies and private equity funds to deliver independent financial opinions with respect to valuation, solvency, capital adequacy and fairness in connection with mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, financings and financial and tax reporting matters for businesses, equity and debt securities, loans, derivative instruments, structured products, intangible assets, fixed assets real estate and more.

Prior to Marshall & Stevens, Mr. Adelson was a Manager at KPMG and a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal. He has served in business development roles for Valuation Research Corporation, Adelson Strategies (a global business development and strategy firm), and Trio Media Ventures. He began his career in public policy.

Mr. Adelson volunteers with multiple organizations.

Professional Highlights

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  • Marshall & Stevens, Inc.
    Managing Director, Business Development, 2024-present
  • Valuation Research Corporation
    Managing Director, 2017-2024
  • Adelson Strategies
    Managing Director, 2015-2017
  • Trio Media Ventures
    Founder, Head of Global Strategy & Business Development, 2015-2017
  • Alvarez & Marsal
    Managing Director, 2005-2015
  • KPMG LLP 
    1998-2005
      ‣ Manager, 1999-2005
      ‣ Intern, Washington National Tax Practice, Summer 1998
  • American Iron and Steel Institute
    Law Clerk, Office of the General Counsel and VP of Public Policy, Summer 1995
  • Liz Robbins Associates
    Junior Associate, Washington Representatives, 1991-1994
  • Bondville Fair (Bondville, VT)
    Board of Directors, 2023-present 
  • The M&A Advisor 2022 (New York, NY) 
    Advisory Board, 2022-2023
  • The Stratton Foundation (Stratton, VT)  
    Volunteer, 2020-present
  • Stars of Hope (New York, NY) 
    Volunteer, 2019-present 
  • Progressive Policy Institute (Washington, DC) 
    Board of Directors, 2016-present
  • Ithaca College Alumni Association (Ithaca, NY) 
    Board of Directors, 2002-2008

David Gaynor

ASA, CEIV

National Practice Leader

Background

David A. Gaynor, ASA, is a National Practice Leader for our Financial Valuation Practice and Managing Director of our Healthcare Valuation Practice. Mr. Gaynor’s responsibilities include overseeing the delivery of valuation services to the Firm’s financial valuation clients.

Mr. Gaynor has more than 22 years of consulting experience, specializing in the valuation of businesses and business interests, intangible assets, liabilities, and complex securities in connection with mergers and acquisitions, financing, estate and gift tax planning, charitable contributions, litigation support services, strategic planning, fairness opinions, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), accounting matters, and recapitalizations. Mr. Gaynor has served clients in a wide variety of industries, including the healthcare, food & beverage, restaurant, consumer products, telecommunication and manufacturing industries.

Prior to joining Marshall & Stevens, Mr. Gaynor led the Healthcare Valuation Group at Crowe, LLP. He has also been employed at CohnReznick, LLP and EisnerAmper, as well as Management Planning Inc. and Pluris Valuation Advisors, LLC.

Mr. Gaynor earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ.

Mr. Gaynor is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in business valuation with the American Society of Appraisers. In addition, Mr. Gaynor is a Member of the Appraisal Issues Task Force (AITF), a Board Member of the Towson University Family Network, and a Member of the Montgomery Township, NJ Budget and Finance Committee. Mr. Gaynor is a frequent writer and speaker on valuation topics.

Professional Highlights

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  • Member, Appraisal Issues Task Force
  • Board Member, Towson University Family Network 
  • Member, Montgomery Township, NJ Budget and Finance Committee
  • Marshall & Stevens, Inc.
    December 2019-present 
      ‣
    Managing Director, Northeast Financial Valuation Practice Leader, 2023-present 
      ‣ Managing
    Director, 2019-2023
  • Crowe
    February 2014-November 2019
      ‣
    Managing Director, Healthcare Valuation Services Leader, 2019
      ‣ Senior Manager, 2014-2019
  • CohnReznick LLP 
    Senior Manager, 2012-2014
  • Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC
    Vice President, 2010-2012
  • Management Planning, Inc. 
    Vice President, 2008-2010
  • Valuation Research Corporation
    Vice President, 2007-2008
  • Crowe Horwath LLP
    Manager, 2004-2007
  • EisnerAmper
    Supervisor, 2002-2003

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