Capital Gains Exit Calculator

Capital Gains Exit Calculator: What the Tax Costs and What Keeps More

Sell a business or building and nobody quotes you the year-one tax bill. Run your numbers below, then flip through a 1031 exchange, a Deferred Sales Trust, and a Charitable Remainder Trust, and see dollar for dollar what a §453 structured installment sale keeps for you instead.

Sell & Pay
1031 Exchange
Deferred Sales Trust
Charitable Trust
Illustrative only. Uses real 2026 federal brackets and the state you pick, unrecaptured §1250 gain at up to 25%, 3.8% NIIT. §453 modeled at a conditional 4.4% over 20 years; a loan paid off at closing is a year-one payment. Not tax advice; your CPA signs off before you commit.
Why §453 wins, in plain English
Pay the tax now, you only put 65¢ of every dollar to work. Structure it and the whole dollar keeps working: same rate, bigger pile.
At ~4.4% your $… roughly doubles to $… in about 16 years. The pay-now seller only doubles the smaller after-tax pile.
Your full dollar stays working (not 65¢) and the gain is taxed in small yearly slices at lower rates, about $1.29 kept for every $1 the pay-now seller ends up with. That is the difference.
Before you read further

What is the tax bill on your property sale going to be?

Send me the sale price and rough basis. Within one business day I'll email you the actual number and the Seller's Guide to §453. If it doesn't fit your deal, I'll tell you that plainly.

Hans Goldstein, EA
Admitted to practice before the IRS

No retainer · no obligation. Hans Goldstein, a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294), will contact you and may discuss insurance products, including annuities.

Illustrative only, not tax advice. Bring the numbers to your CPA, or send them the §453 guide built for accountants.

Hans Goldstein

Find out what your sale is really going to cost you in tax, and what you can do about it

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.

Find out what your tax bill actually looks like before you sell, including the parts your CPA may not raise until the return is already being prepared.

Most people find out what they owe after the sale closes, when nothing can be changed. A short conversation now tells you the number, which layers apply to your situation, and which options are still open while the sale is still in front of you.

  • What you will actually owe: federal, the 3.8% surtax, recapture and your state
  • Which of those layers you can still do something about
  • Whether spreading the sale changes the number in your case
More details (optional)
Hans Goldstein, EA
Admitted to practice before the IRS

Hans Goldstein · 213-414-2808 · Hans Goldstein: Tax & Exit Planning · This is an educational conversation, not tax advice. Bring your CPA in before you file.

Hans Goldstein, a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294), will contact you and may discuss insurance products, including annuities.

Run your specific numbers

The calculator runs your sale through real 2026 federal + state tax brackets and shows §453 savings vs lump sum side-by-side.

Run the calculator → 213-414-2808

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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.