Start simple and add detail when you need it. Every calculator below uses honest math; they differ in how much detail they show.
By Hans Goldstein, EA, Tax & Exit Planning · Updated
Admitted to practice before the IRS.
Which calculator fits your situation?
| If you are | Use this calculator |
|---|---|
| Size of your total tax bill | Capital Gains Tax Calculator |
| Cash sale vs getting paid over time (30-second answer) | Cash vs installment sale Calculator (Simple) |
| Year-by-year detail for your CPA or attorney | Installment sale Calculator Pro (Gen 3) |
| Contingency attorney fee | Structured Attorney Fees Calculator |
| Personal injury settlement | Structured Settlement Calculator |
| Founder stock (QSBS) | QSBS Calculator (Section 1202) |
| Business sale | Business Sale Tax Calculator |
| Rental property depreciation | Depreciation Recapture Calculator |
| Comparing deferral routes on your numbers | Capital Gains Exit Calculator |
| You are carrying the note | Seller Financing Calculator |
The fast one. Two scenarios (0% yield + 4% yield) side-by-side. Configurable §121 exclusion, depreciation recapture, prior-1031 basis. Most sellers only need this to get the gist.
Asset-type selector (real estate / business / stock / partnership). §1202 QSBS · §1245/1250 recapture · IRMAA tiers · CA MHST · non-resident withholding · cap-loss carry · CPA breakdown · year-by-year schedule · IRR · break-even yield · every formula shown. GUL/IUL legacy overlay with age advisor.
Start with the tax bill, then compare every route out of it. These run on the same §453 engine as the installment sale calculators.
2026 brackets, the 3.8% NIIT, unrecaptured §1250 at 25%, and state tax. This is the number you actually owe before anyone pitches you a strategy.
Amortization with balloon plus the tax every other seller-financing calculator skips: §453 gross-profit recognition, and the §1245/goodwill recapture that is due in full in the year of sale.
Four deferral routes on your own numbers, with what each costs you in control, fees and flexibility.
Asset sale vs stock sale, your purchase price allocation, C corporation double tax and what spreading the payments keeps you.
How much of your gain on qualified small business stock is tax free under the old and new rules, and what you keep.
Gold, coins, art, instruments, collector cars, wine, watches, jewelry and cards: ordinary rates capped at 28%, the 3.8% tax, your state and what spreading the payments keeps you.
2026 vs 2027 rules (P.L. 119-21): when the gain is taxed, the 10% or 30% step-up, the 10-year exclusion, and the same money with no fund.
The 25% §1250 tax on every dollar you ever depreciated. Most sellers hear about it for the first time at closing.
What the exchange defers, and what it costs you: you stay a landlord until death or the next exchange.
§453-style deferral wrapped in a promoter's trust, with annual fees and audit exposure no IRS ruling backs. See the real cost.
Income and a deduction. The remainder goes to charity, not your family. See the number your heirs give up.
Tax-free under IRC §104(a)(2): every payment, principal and growth, for the entire term.
If you take the cash: where it sits, and how you cover the long-term-care risk that will eat through it.
Split your after-tax proceeds between liquid (HYSA / Treasury / CD ~2.5%) and locked (MYGA ~5%) buckets. Visual cards + blended yield + CPA breakdown showing tax drag year-by-year.
GUL, S-GUL, IUL, 10-pay or Term: see which fits at your age. Hockey-stick chart showing cost-of-insurance rising sharply past 60. When IUL is a mistake (68+). Comparison matrix with 6-policy types side-by-side.
Shows how much tax-free LTC benefit $100K actually buys. Solves for 4-Year and Unlimited asset-based LTC plans side-by-side based on age, sex, health, single-pay vs 10-pay, and optional inflation rider. Compares against the dollars you'd need parked in a MYGA to self-insure.
A CD pays interest you owe tax on every year, at full ordinary rates including the 13.3% California top. A MYGA defers all of that until withdrawal. See the actual dollar gap over 5 / 10 / 20 years on your specific marginal bracket.
If you take the cash and pay the tax, the rest can sit in a HYSA at ~2.5% or a Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity at ~5%. Highly rated insurers, not FDIC insured, 5-yr lock. Hans places these too.
70% of 65-year-olds need LTC. California memory care runs $8,500 to $14,000/month and is rising 3 to 5%/yr. Two ways to fund it: The installment sale monthly payments cover the bill directly, OR an asset-based LTC policy delivers a 3-5× LTC pool (with a death benefit if you never need care). Plus the "stack both" case.
Federal LTCG brackets, NIIT 3.8%, CA marginal up to 13.3%, MHST 1% above $1M, all stacked. The actual effective rate on a CA real-estate or business sale, broken down line by line.
2026 IRMAA tiers, the 2-year MAGI lookback, and how a Year-1 cash sale punches you into a higher Part B/D premium for years. The installment sale structuring keeps you below the IRMAA cliffs.
LA Measure ULA mansion tax, SF transfer tax, Santa Monica Measure GS and Culver City: the hyper-local taxes on top of state + federal. They affect the seller, the deal and the net.
Eight worked profiles: retiring rental owner, founder selling C-corp, ranch sale, primary-residence with §121, etc. Cash side, installment sale side, decision logic, honest "neither" cases.
Eight situations most CPAs miss: primary residence over §121 cap, sale-to-kids deferral, inherited property + MYGA stack, dental-practice exit, partnership unwind. Where the installment sale works and where it doesn't.
If you're on the buying side and the seller asked you to sign an installment sale rider: every document, what it does, what it doesn't, and why it's NOT a 1031 exchange or a deferred sales trust.
If your attorney structures a Charitable Remainder Trust, the heirs lose the corpus. Standard fix: an ILIT-owned guaranteed UL replaces the trust value tax-free outside the estate. The piece I handle.
The installment sale uses an annuity, but it's NOT a SPIA. Period-certain only (no lifetime guarantee), taxed under §453 gross-profit ratio (LTCG rates) not §72 exclusion ratio (ordinary income). Visual breakdown of how a $200K annual installment sale payment splits into basis return, §121-excluded gain, recognized gain, and imputed interest, plus a one-paragraph tour of every major annuity type (SPIA, DIA, MYGA, FIA, VA).
The entity that legally takes on the buyer's payment obligation isn't a mysterious third party. It's usually an affiliate of the highly rated insurer that issues the annuity, and it is the company that owes you the payments. Covers assignment companies and their subsidiaries, why the structure exists (§453, §453B), how the corporate map looks, and how to verify any of them in 30 seconds on SEC/NAIC.
The most common installment sale pushback: "If I'm OK getting paid over time, why bring an insurance carrier in?" 10 reasons it almost always goes wrong: buyer credit risk, divorce/death/bankruptcy interception, §453B prepayment trap, foreclosure costs, state-line enforcement issues, buyer-discount expectation. With the installment sale contrast for each.
Asset protection from creditors (CCP §704.100), zero ongoing AUM fees (~$500K saved over 25 years), Social Security claiming flexibility, probate avoidance, NIIT cliff avoidance, IRMAA planning (both ways), state-tax arbitrage on post-move interest if you move to TX/NV/FL, DAF/charitable compatibility, no RMDs, and IRD/§691(c) inheritance treatment. These are the reasons CPAs who understand the structure keep recommending it.
A plain-English guide for sellers on how a structured installment sale can help you net more after tax when you sell a business, practice, or property. It covers the math, the alternatives, and how to tell if your deal fits.
Leave your details and the PDF downloads right away. Within one business day Hans will email a preliminary read on which structure fits your deal. No retainer. On a funded structure, the insurer pays a one-time commission of about 4% of the amount structured to the brokerage firm that places it (Hans’s share is about 2.4%; no trail). It is built into the annuity pricing, not a separate fee.
📞 Hans Goldstein · 213-414-2808 · CA Insurance License #4273294 · Independent §453 specialist · Goldstein & Co. LLC
Hans Goldstein, a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294), will contact you and may discuss insurance products, including annuities.
Hans Goldstein is an Enrolled Agent, admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the IRS. General education, not tax or legal advice for your situation.
