This meeting offers 1 CPE Credit

Sweat Equity Blues: Avoid the IRS Encore

Sweat Equity is Taxable earnings.

You have to pay taxes on that even  though you didn't get paid.

Here's how to not owe those taxes.

Speaker is Shane Bohlender, CPA, Fractional CFO and Tax Advisor, Audit, Tax Advisory

You start a business in your garage. Your buddy’s in for half. No salaries—just sweat equity. 
“We’ll figure it out when the money comes.” 

Then tax season hits. 

You didn’t pay yourselves a dime… 
but the IRS says you owe anyway. 

That’s the Sweat Equity Blues. 

No cash. No paycheck. Still taxable. 

Here’s the part most founders miss: 
Sweat equity is often a taxable event—even when no money changes hands. 

Play it wrong, and you’re writing a check to the IRS before you’ve made one yourself. 

Play it right, and there are ways to reduce—or even eliminate—that burden. 
But only if you set it up correctly from the start. 

That’s what this session is about. 

Not to talk you out of sweat equity— 
but to make sure you understand the rules before you’re stuck singing the blues. 

Come get clarity.
Then structure it the right way—so your upside stays yours. 

Shane Bohlender is a CPA and MBA with 30 years of experience advising business owners and executives on complex tax, equity, and ownership decisions. As a Fractional CFO, he partners with business owners to design ownership structures, navigate K-1 reporting and profit interests, and align financial strategy with long-term growth and exit objectives.