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AnswersTax, accounting, CFO, legal, capital, exit and trust questions, answered plainly. Updated November 2026.
Crowne Point Advisory is a single front door for owners of companies doing $2M to $50M a year who need more than a bookkeeper. You complete a short application, and you’re matched to the right service: tax planning and accounting, a fractional CFO, fractional general counsel, capital raising, sale and exit planning, or trust and charitable planning.
Usually somewhere past $2M in revenue, or sooner if the owner is paying meaningful income tax. The signs are a surprise tax bill, monthly numbers that arrive late or not at all, and no one looking ahead at the tax year. A bookkeeper records what happened; a growing company also needs someone planning what happens next.
Tax preparation reports last year’s results on a return after the year is over. Tax planning happens during the year and looks at decisions that change the result, such as entity structure, owner pay, retirement contributions and the timing of large purchases. Preparation records the bill; planning is where it can be reduced.
A fractional CFO is an experienced chief financial officer who works with several companies part-time instead of one company full-time. You get senior-level forecasting, cash management and strategic advice on a monthly retainer, scaled to what the business needs.
A controller makes sure the numbers are accurate and closed on time. A CFO uses those numbers to plan: forecasting cash, setting budgets, pricing, raising capital and preparing for a sale. If your books are clean but nobody is looking ahead, you need CFO-level help, not another bookkeeper.
Fractional general counsel is a senior business attorney who serves as a company’s part-time in-house lawyer on a retainer. They handle the day-to-day legal work a growing company generates, such as contracts, employment and corporate matters, without the cost of a full-time hire.
Regulation D is a private placement exemption: no SEC review, no cap on the amount, but investors are mainly accredited. Regulation A is a mini public offering: the SEC qualifies an offering circular, the company can raise up to $75 million in 12 months under Tier 2, and anyone can invest, subject to limits for non-accredited investors.
Under the current rules, up to $20 million in a 12-month period under Tier 1 and up to $75 million under Tier 2. Tier 2 offerings preempt state registration but carry ongoing reporting requirements.
A deferred sales trust is a structure in which a business owner sells to a trust in exchange for an installment note, and the trust then sells to the buyer. It is designed to spread capital gains tax over the years payments are received, under the installment sale rules of Internal Revenue Code Section 453. It must be set up before the sale closes and doesn’t fit every deal, so it needs case-by-case review.
Ideally one to three years before a sale, and at minimum before you sign a letter of intent. Many of the structures that reduce taxes, along with cleaning up books and contracts for due diligence, take time and can’t be added once terms are agreed.
In an asset sale the buyer purchases the company’s assets, and in a stock sale the buyer purchases the owner’s shares. Buyers often prefer asset sales for tax and liability reasons; sellers often prefer stock sales because more of the gain may qualify for capital gains rates. The structure can change what you keep by a significant amount.
A dynasty trust is a long-term trust designed to hold assets for children, grandchildren and later generations. Allocating your generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to it can keep the assets from being subject to estate tax at each generation.
Usually well before a raise or sale, while the business’s value is lower. Transfers made then use less of your exemption, and more of the growth happens outside your estate. Whether any structure fits depends on your assets and family, so it needs case-by-case review.
No. Advice comes through a law firm with CPAs on staff, not a CPA firm, so it does not audit, review or compile financial statements. If a lender, investor or buyer requires audited or reviewed statements, an independent CPA firm issues them, and the team coordinates with that firm.
No. Crowne Point Advisory handles intake and matching. Legal, tax and accounting services are provided by independent professionals, including The Law Offices of Nik Agharkar (Crowne Point Tax & Wealth Counsel), which has CPAs on staff alongside counsel.
These answers are general information, not legal or tax advice for your situation.
A one-minute application, then a few questions about your structure, books and advisors. The first call opens with a plan instead of an interview.
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