Selling the Family Business to Your Children Without Handing the IRS a Second Payday
An IRS Section 453 installment sale spreads the gain across your retirement, while $19,000 annual gifts and 20-40% valuation discounts move value tax-free.
#business-exit
Business Exit
Exit strategies and planning for business owners preparing to sell, retire, or transition
What Happens to Your 401(k) Plan When You Sell or Close Your Small Business
To close a 401(k) when selling or shutting down: board resolution, full vesting, distribute within 12 months, file a final Form 5500.
Why Every Private-Equity Deal for a CPA Firm Splits Into an Attest and a Non-Attest Entity
US law bars non-CPAs from owning an attest practice, so every CPA-firm PE deal splits in two — and only 30–50% of the headline price is cash at close.
Rollover Equity When You Sell Your Business: Section 721 Deferral, the Second Bite, and Minority Protections
Section 721 defers tax on the ~20% sellers roll into a PE buyout — but junior securities, leverage, and weak minority rights can erase the second bite.
Canada's Capital Gains Inclusion Rate Is Still One-Half: Selling a Business or Rental in 2026
Canada cancelled the two-thirds capital gains inclusion rate on March 21, 2025, but kept the $1.25M lifetime exemption — roughly $1,275,000 indexed for 2026. Here are the QSBC tests, CCA recapture, and 45(2)/45(3) elections that decide your bill.
Selling a Business-Owned Life Insurance Policy: How a Life Settlement Is Taxed
A life settlement payout splits into three slices — basis tax-free, gain up to cash surrender value as ordinary income, the rest as capital gain. Here is how a business reports it, plus Forms 1099-LS, 1099-SB, 8925 and Section 101(j).
Shutting Down Your Business for Good: The Final-Return, Payroll, and Paperwork Checklist
A step-by-step wind-down checklist — final 1040/1065/1120 returns, final 941/940/W-2 payroll filings, state dissolution, EIN account closure, Section 1245 and 1250 recapture on asset sales, and the 3-to-7-year record retention rules.
Stock Sale vs. Asset Sale: A Small Business Seller's Guide to the Tax and Liability Trade-Offs
In a stock sale the seller reports one capital gain and the buyer inherits every liability; in an asset sale the price is allocated across seven Form 8594 classes, so depreciation recapture, inventory, and C corporation double taxation convert much of the gain to ordinary income. Here is how each structure taxes the seller, what the 338(h)(10) election and personal-goodwill carve-out change, and which liabilities follow you past closing.
Closing a Business in the Philippines Under RMC No. 47-2026: The 3-Day BIR Tax Clearance Guide
Under BIR Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 47-2026, issued May 19, 2026, Philippine micro taxpayers with gross sales of 3 million pesos or less can close their registration without a mandatory audit and receive a tax clearance within three working days, and non-filing penalties stop accruing once a complete BIR Form 1905 packet is submitted. This guide lists the exact documents, the manual and electronic filing channels, the five-step closure sequence, and the mistakes that still delay an exit.
IRMAA for Business Owners: The Two-Year Lookback, the 2026 Medicare Brackets, and the SSA-44 Appeal
Medicare's IRMAA surcharge sets your 2026 Part B and Part D premiums from your 2024 tax return, and crossing a bracket by one dollar triggers the full tier — up to roughly $14,000 a year above standard premiums for a couple. Here is how business sales, Roth conversions and RMDs trigger it, the 2026 thresholds, and how to file Form SSA-44 after retirement or another qualifying life-changing event.
The Small-Business Retirement Wave: How to Build an Exit Buyers Will Actually Pay For
A March 2026 survey of about 1,000 U.S. small business owners found 40% expect to retire within a decade while 70% have no formal succession plan. Buyers price a small business on seller's discretionary earnings times a 2x–4x multiple, discounted for owner dependency, customer concentration and unreliable books. This guide lays out a six-part, three-to-five-year plan — two target numbers, three years of clean financials, operational replaceability, risk de-concentration, a deliberate exit path (third-party sale, family succession, management buyout or ESOP), and a reverse-built timeline with a CPA and attorney — plus the three mistakes that shrink exits.
Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors: The Faster, Quieter State-Law Alternative to Chapter 7
An assignment for the benefit of creditors (ABC) lets an insolvent business liquidate under state law in months rather than a year, with an assignee the owner chooses instead of a court-appointed trustee — but it carries no automatic stay and no debt discharge. Here is how the five-step process works, how it compares to Chapter 7, and the bookkeeping that keeps a wind-down orderly.