The legal and tax structure of a business acquisition or sale exerts a major and lasting influence on the businesses involved and their owners. While legal and tax matters rarely constitute the exclusive motivation for acquisitions or divestiture, such considerations are often crucial in determining the ultimate economic benefit to be derived by the parties to the transaction. When businesses change hands, the taxable and tax free methods utilized to effect the transfer are many and varied. These include mergers, stock for stock and stock for assets reorganizations, sale of stock, sale of assets, spin offs, split ups and combinations thereof.

Legal and tax matters are often crucial in determining the ultimate economic benefit to be derived by the parties to the transaction.