Important Disclosures and Conflict of Interest

Read this page before you act on anything in this book. It is the plain-English version of everything I want you to know about me, how I am paid, and what this book is and is not.

This is a book about installment sales (Section 453). It covers two clean ways to make one: seller financing and a structured installment sale. You can do everything in this book with seller financing, and I would earn nothing. I am paid only if a structured sale is funded.

Talk to your CPA and your tax attorney first

Do not implement any strategy in this book without first reviewing your own facts with your own CPA or enrolled agent and your own tax attorney. They should run your numbers, review the purchase contract and the structured sale documents, and confirm the treatment on your federal and state returns before anything is signed. If they say it does not fit you, believe them.

Who I am, and who I am not

• I am Hans Goldstein. I publish tax education as Hans Goldstein: Tax & Exit Planning. It is not an accounting firm, a law firm or an investment adviser, and it does not prepare tax returns. Until I am enrolled as an enrolled agent (expected in 2027), Tax & Exit Planning charges no fee. Once I am enrolled, a full Comprehensive Tax & Exit Analysis will cost $5,000, agreed in a written engagement letter that states exactly what is and is not included before any work starts. The analysis is Section 453 and tax planning advice only, the same whether or not you use a structured sale, and it includes no advice about any insurance or annuity contract. That fee is paid by you, is separate from any insurance commission, is never credited against or refunded because of a commission, and is owed whether or not you buy anything. Apart from that fee, the only pay I receive connected to the strategy in this book is the insurance commission described below.
• I am a licensed insurance agent: California Insurance License #4273294, NPN 20602398, with nonresident licenses in other states. I can sell insurance, including annuities, only where I am licensed. Verify my licenses at the California Department of Insurance license lookup or by NPN at the NAIC or NIPR public lookup.
• Insurance products are offered through Goldstein & Co. LLC dba Goldstein Insurance Services. Tax planning fees are charged by Hans Goldstein individually, doing business as Hans Goldstein: Tax & Exit Planning, never by Goldstein & Co. LLC. Goldstein & Co. LLC dba Goldstein Insurance Services offers insurance only.
• I am California-domiciled. My principal place of business and mailing address: 1401 21st St, Ste R, Sacramento, CA 95811.
• I have passed all three parts of the IRS Special Enrollment Examination, the exam for enrolled agents, and expect to be enrolled in 2027. Until the IRS grants enrollment, I am not an enrolled agent and cannot represent anyone before the IRS.
• I am not a CPA, an enrolled agent, an attorney, a registered investment adviser or a securities broker. I do not prepare tax returns or draft or review legal documents. Nothing in this book is tax, legal, accounting or investment advice, and reading it, using the calculator or attending a webinar does not create an adviser, client or attorney relationship with me.

How I am paid: my conflict of interest

• When an annuity-funded structured installment sale closes, the life insurance company that issues the annuity pays a commission of about 4% of the amount structured, one time. It goes to the brokerage firm that places the structure, which pays me my share, currently about 2.4% of the amount structured, as a broker would be paid. It is paid once, when the annuity is issued. There is no trail or renewal commission. As far as I know, a one-time total of about 4% with no trail is typical across this market. The commission is built into the annuity's pricing. It is not a separate fee taken out of your payments, but it is a real cost that is reflected in the terms you receive.
• If a structure is funded another way, my compensation on it will be disclosed to you in writing before you decide.
• Before you decide, you can ask me in writing for an estimate of my compensation on your transaction, and I will answer in writing. If we talk about your transaction, I will first give you the written insurance agent disclosure for annuities that California requires. It states my role, what I am licensed to sell, which insurers I can place business with, and how I am paid.
• I earn no commission if you use seller financing, take cash, do a full 1031 exchange, buy a Delaware Statutory Trust interest, or do nothing at all. I do not sell securities, including DST interests. I do not pay or accept referral fees from DST sponsors, qualified intermediaries, brokers, CPAs, attorneys or anyone else in connection with your transaction.
• The assignment company and the structured-sale provider may earn fees or a spread of their own. Ask them in writing.
• That is a conflict of interest: I am paid if you structure, and not paid a commission if you don't. Weigh everything I say with that in mind. Any compensation or referral relationship that applies to your transaction will be disclosed to you in writing before you act.
• This is also why the book shows where the strategy does not work, and why every case includes what could go wrong. Judge the strategy on the rules and the math, not on my say-so.

What this book is

• Education about the tax rules. It describes general federal and some state tax law as I understand it as of 2026, checked against primary sources, but tax law and its interpretation change, and your facts will differ from every example.
• Illustrative composites. Every person and case in this book is invented to illustrate the rules. None is a real client. No result is typical, and no result is a promise or a prediction of yours.
• Model estimates. The numbers come from a planning model with stated assumptions (tax year, brackets, rates of return, note rates, how leftover losses are valued, and more). Change an assumption and the answer changes. Estimates are not guarantees.
• Not an offer of any annuity or insurer. This book does not name, offer or recommend any specific annuity, insurer or assignment company. In a structured sale, you are paid by an assignment company, usually funded by a fixed annuity it owns from a highly rated life insurer; some programs use a funding agreement instead (a different kind of contract issued by a highly rated life insurer). The structured sales discussed in this book are fixed. When a structure is annuity-funded, the annuity is a fixed annuity (not a variable or indexed annuity) issued by a life insurance company and owned by the assignment company. I do not offer variable or indexed products. The insurer, its ratings and the contract terms are identified in writing, in the insurer's and provider's own documents, before you sign anything. Neither I nor Goldstein Insurance Services is the insurer or the assignment company, and neither of us is responsible for your payments.
• "The Waterfall" is the name of a tax-planning idea, not of an insurance policy or annuity.
• In this book, "highly rated" means rated A or better by A.M. Best (A++, A+ or A, the top three of its financial strength ratings), or an equivalent rating from S&P, Moody's or Fitch, when the annuity is bought. A rating is an opinion of the insurer's financial strength. It is not a guarantee, and it can change.

The risks, in one place

• The open legal question. No IRS ruling specifically approves the assignment structure used in a structured installment sale. The IRS could argue the structured amount was received at closing and tax it all in year one while the money stays locked up.
• Credit risk. Your payments depend on the assignment company and on what funds it (usually the insurer behind a fixed annuity). You are an unsecured creditor of the assignment company. Payments are not FDIC insured. Do not count on state guaranty association coverage; it may not apply to this arrangement at all.
• No liquidity. Structured payments cannot be cashed out, borrowed against, pledged or sped up. Structure only money you will not need early.
• Taxes that cannot be deferred. Section 1245 recapture is taxed in the year of sale, note interest is taxed as ordinary income, and state rules differ from federal.
• Inflation. Fixed payments buy less over time. A COLA schedule, with payments rising by a fixed percentage set at closing, offsets some of that, but it is not tied to actual inflation and its early payments are smaller.
• Estate. An installment note does not get a step-up in basis at death; property you hold until death may.
• Penalties. If a position is challenged, penalties and interest can apply. Reliance on promotional material is not a defense; reliance on your own qualified, independent advisers who know all the facts is the right protection.

For CPAs, EAs and attorneys who read this

This book is written for education. It is not a tax opinion and should not be relied on as one. If you refer a client or receive any compensation connected to a transaction, follow your own professional rules on disclosure and consent (for example Circular 230 §10.29, the AICPA Code, California Business and Professions Code §5061 and 16 CCR §56, and IRC §7216 for client tax information).

If you contact me

If you respond to this book, the calculator or a webinar by call, text, DM, email or form, Hans Goldstein, a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294), will contact you and may discuss insurance products, including annuities. In that first contact I will tell you that you are hearing from me because you responded. If you are 65 or older, please involve a trusted family member and your own advisers in any decision, and bring anyone you like to any meeting.

Webinars and presentations

Any webinar, workshop or live session I hold on this subject is tax education and an insurance sales presentation. Insurance products, including annuities, may be offered at or as a result of it. Attending is free and obligates you to nothing.

Testimonials and endorsements

Any quote from a professional or reader in this book or on my websites is that person's genuine, current opinion, reproduced accurately. Unless stated next to the quote, no one quoted was paid, received anything of value, or has a referral or business relationship with me. Where any such relationship exists, it is stated next to the quote. One person's experience is not typical and does not predict yours; many sellers' facts do not fit this strategy (see the cases where it fails).

Names used in this book

Deferred Sales Trust is a trademark of its owner. It is used here only to identify that product for comparison; the owner has not reviewed or endorsed this book. Asset Wise Institute is named only to credit its public work; it has no affiliation with this book or with me.

Your information

If you contact me, use a form or register for an event, I use what you share to respond to you and, if you ask, to evaluate an insurance transaction. I do not sell or rent it. I share it only with service providers that run my email, phone, text, CRM, scheduling and website systems, with your own advisers when you ask me to, and with an insurer if you apply. The web calculators run in your browser: the numbers you type stay there unless you submit the results form, which sends your inputs, your result tier and your contact information to me and my CRM so I can send your results and follow up. The websites use Google Analytics cookies to count visits and see how pages are used. Full privacy policy: goldsteinco.net/privacy.

No warranty

This book is provided as is. The author and the publisher, Hans Goldstein, disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and are not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential loss arising from use of or reliance on this book. Where the law does not allow a full disclaimer, liability is limited to the price paid for the book. Errors will be corrected in later editions; please report them to [email protected].

One more time, because it matters most: talk to your CPA and your tax attorney before you implement anything in this book.