SMB Tools / Sale proceeds
What do you actually walk away with?
The headline sale price is not what you pocket. Subtract broker fees, closing costs, debt payoff, and capital gains tax to see your real net proceeds.
What this means
- What moves it
- Debt takes the biggest cut ($100,000). A few more years of paying it down changes what reaches you more than a higher price would.
- What to check
- If an offer came in at 85% of asking, $425,000, it would leave you $204,000; offers under asking are common, and the gap varies by deal.
- Where this goes next
- Save it, then get the books in the shape a buyer will test: tax returns that match the P&L, a lease that transfers, a business that runs without you. Open →
Worked out from the numbers on this page. A description of the math and an estimate, not advice; what to do is your call, with your adviser.
The sale
Sale price
$
Broker / advisory fee
%
Other closing costs
$
Debt to pay off at close
$
Tax
How you came to own it
Cash you put in over the years
$
Capital gains tax rate
%
Taxable capital gain$385,000
Estimated net proceeds
$258,000
from a $500,000 sale · you keep about 51.6%
About half reaches you$204,000 if 85% of asking
52% of the price reaches you; the biggest cut is paying off debt at $100,000. If an offer came in at 85% of asking, $425,000, you would walk away with $204,000.
- Broker / advisory fee
- $50,000
- Estimated tax
- $77,000
- Debt payoff
- $100,000
Sale price$500,000
Broker / advisory fee-$50,000
Other closing costs-$15,000
Debt payoff-$100,000
Estimated capital gains tax-$77,000
Net proceeds$258,000
A rough estimate, not tax advice. Real tax on a sale depends on deal structure, depreciation recapture, and state law. Work the numbers with a CPA before relying on them.