Charitable Remainder Trust Calculator: What Your Heirs Lose
A CRT gives you income and a deduction, but the remainder goes to charity, not your family. See the number your heirs give up, then compare a §453 structured installment sale that keeps it in the family.
By Hans Goldstein, EA, Tax & Exit Planning · Updated
Admitted to practice before the IRS.
What is the tax bill on your 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.
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.
Related
- Charitable remainder trust vs. installment sale: side by side: who keeps the principal, what each costs, and the one question that decides it
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
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 → 213-414-2808People also ask
How is income from a charitable remainder trust taxed?
Under a four-tier rule in §664(b). Each payment is treated as ordinary income first, to the extent the trust has any, then capital gain, then tax-exempt income, and last as a tax-free return of principal. Because the trust sold your appreciated property, most payments carry out that capital gain over the years, so the tax is spread, not avoided.
What are the rules for a charitable remainder trust?
The annual payout must be at least 5% and no more than 50% of the trust value, the term is your life (or joint lives) or up to 20 years, and the present value of what passes to charity must be at least 10% of the starting value. The trust is irrevocable, and the remainder goes to charity, not your heirs.
CRT or installment sale: which keeps more for your family?
A CRT gives you an income tax deduction and spreads the gain, but the principal ends up with charity, so families often buy life insurance to replace it. A §453 structured installment sale also spreads the gain, keeps the principal yours, and any unpaid balance passes to your beneficiaries. Charitable intent is the deciding question.
Related
- CRT vs installment sale
- What is a charitable remainder trust
- CRT plus wealth replacement
- Structured installment sale calculator
Sources: 26 U.S.C. §664 (Cornell LII); IRS: Charitable remainder trusts. Checked October 3, 2026.