Calculator
Sell Your Business & Retire
Estimate what your business might be worth using a multiple of seller's discretionary earnings, see your take-home after fees and taxes, and find out whether the sale funds your retirement.
The business
Used only to show your earnings margin.
Net profit plus owner compensation, owner perks, interest, taxes, depreciation, and one-off items.
Sets the multiple to the midpoint of a published industry range. You can still adjust it.
Multiples vary widely by industry, size, and buyer. Use a figure a broker or valuation professional has given you.
The tax
Which bracket applies depends on your taxable income in the year of sale.
Florida does not levy a state individual income tax, so a Florida resident would normally leave this at zero.
Does it fund retirement?
Estimated net proceeds after fees and tax
$2,526,094
From an estimated enterprise value of $3,600,000, less $363,000 of fees and costs and $710,906 of tax.
Annual shortfall
$78,956
$4,026,094 invested at 4.00% supports about $161,044 a year, short of your $240,000 target.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Enterprise value (4.0x earnings) | $3,600,000 |
| Broker and advisory fees (8.0%) | - $288,000 |
| Legal, accounting, and closing costs | - $75,000 |
| Debt repaid at closing | - $0 |
| Proceeds before tax | $3,237,000 |
| Taxable gain | $2,987,000 |
| Estimated tax (23.8% combined) | - $710,906 |
| Net proceeds | $2,526,094 |
| Other investable assets | + $1,500,000 |
| Total investable after the sale | $4,026,094 |
Earnings margin of 22.5% on $4,000,000 of revenue. This is a simplified single-rate estimate. A real transaction involves the allocation of the purchase price between asset classes, ordinary income on some components, depreciation recapture, any qualified small business stock treatment, installment terms, earnouts, and state rules. Those details are what make the tax planning worth doing before the deal is signed.
What this calculator assumes
- Enterprise value is estimated as a multiple of seller's discretionary earnings. Multiples vary widely by industry, size, growth, and buyer type, so use a figure from a broker or valuation professional rather than the default.
- The industry ranges offered are the ones published on this firm's current calculator, drawn from 2025 BizBuySell and DealStats transaction data. Actual value depends on growth rate, customer concentration, lease terms, and owner dependency. Always work with a licensed business broker.
- Capital gains tax is simplified. Consult a CPA for asset versus stock sale treatment.
- Fees are applied to enterprise value, and debt is repaid at closing before tax is calculated.
- Tax is a single combined rate applied to the whole gain: the federal long-term capital gains rate you select, the 3.8 percent net investment income tax if you include it, and any state rate you enter.
- A real transaction allocates the purchase price across asset classes, which can make part of the proceeds ordinary income, trigger depreciation recapture, or qualify for qualified small business stock treatment. Installment terms and earnouts also change the timing. None of that is modeled here.
- Retirement coverage applies your chosen withdrawal rate to the combined investable total in the first year only, and ignores Social Security and any other income.
This tool produces estimates for planning discussion only. It is not investment, tax, or legal advice, it does not account for your full situation, and it is not a projection of actual results. Investments involve risk and are not guaranteed.
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