Selling Your Optometry Practice Without the Year-One Tax Bill
MyEyeDr., Vision Source, EyeCare Partners, Acuity Eyecare Group, Eye Health America, Keplr Vision and Specialty Eye Institute are the main optometry consolidators, and they pay 5-8x EBITDA for clinical practices. A $500K EBITDA optometry practice = $2.5M-$4M sale.
The math: $3M optometry practice sale
Assumptions: $3M, 55% goodwill, 25% optical inventory (frames, lenses, contacts), 20% equipment + leasehold.
Optometry-specific tax wrinkles
- Optical inventory. Frames (Luxottica, Marchon, Safilo) + lenses + contacts = ordinary income. A big carve-out, sometimes 25-30% of sale price.
- Optical retail sub-shop. Sometimes structured as separate retail business inside the practice.
- Vision insurance contracts (VSP, EyeMed, Davis Vision, Spectera). Provider contract assignability matters.
- State Board of Optometry ownership. Each state has rules (CA Bus & Prof §3041, similar elsewhere).
- Practice management software (Crystal PM, Officemate, RevolutionEHR). Transfer terms.
What is the tax bill on your optometry practice 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.
When this fits
- $1.5M+ sale
- Clinical goodwill > retail inventory ratio
- Consolidator buyer
When it doesn't
- Mostly retail-optical with minimal clinical
- Sale under $1.5M
How I work
Hans Goldstein, EA, IRC §453 specialist. Admitted to practice before the IRS. Placements with highly rated life insurers (A or better by A.M. Best or equivalent) in all 50 states. Free fit-check.
Find out what your optometry practice sale tax bill actually is, 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.
Educational. Not tax or legal advice.
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