Federale Overheidsdienst Financien Issues Positive Ruling Regarding the Slicing Pie Startup Equity Model
Brussels – The Federale Overheidsdienst Financien has reviewed the structure of the Slicing Pie model for the allocation and recovery of equity for early-stage startups and issued a positive ruling for the start-up BUFFL, declaring that the implementation of the Slicing Pie Model will not entail any adverse tax effects in the context of BUFFL. The Slicing Pie model allows startup founders to create a perfectly fair equity split among early contributors based on each person’s contribution. The model differs from traditional approaches because contributions change over time, so the final equity distribution is unknown at the outset of the venture. “As an entrepreneur I immediately saw the benefits of the Slicing Pie Model, as it adapts your equity structure in a fair way to all unforeseeable circumstances in your start-up journey. Even though the Slicing Pie model is much more logical and fairer than traditional methods, we were concerned that the non-traditional approach would trigger unnecessary tax consequences, “said BUFFL co-founder Seppe Stroo. “The positive fiscal ruling means we can be confident that we won’t run into problems.”
Mike Moyer, the US-based inventor of the Slicing Pie model, was pleased to receive a favorable ruling, “Slicing Pie is used by thousands of companies all over the world and most countries encourage fairness, but it’s always nice to verify that the model won’t conflict with local tax customs. Everyone in a startup company deserves their fair share of the company’s success, including the government!”
“Founders often split up all the equity in fixed amounts during the formation of a startup,” said Thomas Dhaenen, founding partner at Beyond Law Firm which specializes in business law, “the problem is that startup teams change or an individual’s commitment level changes. Such changes lead to disputes over equity splits that can be very detrimental and expensive to early-stage companies. The Slicing Pie model is designed to accommodate changes and adjust to keep things fair. It is an essential tool for startup founders.”
About Beyond Law Firm
We advise entrepreneurs and investors on how to incorporate and organize their companies and focus in particular on optimizing the set-up of innovative businesses. We counsel our clients in relation to corporate operations and questions pertaining to corporate governance, directors’ liability and the relations between shareholders. We also assist (international) groups in the corporate housekeeping of their (Belgian) entities.
With a very strong expertise in complex operations involving several jurisdictions, we represent a diverse range of domestic and international companies, VC’s and business angels in M&A in addition to fundraising operations and joint ventures.
For more information, contact Thomas Dhaenen
About BUFFL
BUFFL is an agile market research company that puts companies in live connection with their target audience. BUFFL provides validation in the palm of your hand and allows innovators and marketeers to validate their assumptions in just 30 min. Using its own research platform BUFFL developed a structured innovation methodology to validate business ideas in one week.
For more information, contact Seppe Stroo
About Slicing Pie
Slicing Pie is a universal, one-size-fits-all solution for the allocation and recovery of equity in an early-stage, bootstrapped company. It is a formula that allows founders to divide equity based on the fair market value of each participant’s contribution. It is a fair, logical and structured way to align everyone’s interests and incentives. Slicing Pie is used all over the world. It is, by far, the fairest way to split equity in an early-stage, bootstrapped startup!
For more information, contact Mike Moyer
