Questions

I have a newly incorporated Startup - pre-revenue and pre-investment. I also have an incorporated Consulting Business which I am winding down to 'maintenance only ' mode as I ramp up to full time in the startup. Fort he Startup I am using the laptop, printer, cell phone, office furniture, etc. that are all owned by the Consulting company. Is that an issue? Should i talk to my accountant about a transfer of assets? Have they depreciated enough to be worthless anyway (all 3 years old). It wouldn't make sense to purchase all new provisions for the startup. But should the Startup compensate the Consulting company?

You are correct that these assets are certainly fully depreciated for tax purposes. I'm not a tax expert, but typically your tax CPA would have deducted these costs fully during the first year they were purchased by your consulting firm. So from a tax standpoint you don't need to do anything.

From a bookkeeping standpoint, have three options: 1) do nothing, 2) keep the assets on consulting company's books and charge a rental fee to start up company, 3) move the assets to the new company at their current values on consulting company's books.

I would do option number 1 unless you are an exacting accountant that can't stand for these assets to be on one company's books while another company get's the benefit or you want to show some assets on the start ups books. However, the assets are so immaterial at this point that they really don't matter, just a bunch of needless recordkeeping for the sake or recordkeeping. In other words, options 2 and 3 would be the "right" answer from an accounting standpoint if we were talking about a huge amount of assets, but because we're probably talking about a few thousand dollars of fully depreciated assets, you should take option #1.

Helpful?


Answered 10 years ago

Unlock Startups Unlimited

Access 20,000+ Startup Experts, 650+ masterclass videos, 1,000+ in-depth guides, and all the software tools you need to launch and grow quickly.

Already a member? Sign in

Copyright © 2024 Startups.com LLC. All rights reserved.