If your New Year’s resolution is never to drink eggnog again, we can’t help you (or ourselves). But you’re in luck if you’ve resolved to sell your business in 2025 because today we’re continuing our “Exit Stage” series on how to do exactly that.

In previous installments, we covered When Is the Best (and Worst) Time to Sell Your Business?, What if Your Kids Don’t Want the Family Business?, How to Find the Right Buyer for Your Business, and 4 Questions to Ask Before Selling Your Business. Pour yourself a tall glass of nog and read on for the expected — and unexpected — costs of selling.

Exit fee: The costs of selling your business

Job offer: How to negotiate one effectively

Zildjian: Cymbal maker has ancient history

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Starting a business will cost you money, but selling one isn’t free either. The sale price should easily cover your expenses (and then some), but here’s a breakdown of what you may expect to pay.

Hiring a consultant or business valuation company

How much are your business and its assets worth? You may be wise to hire an expert to determine the figure.

“Look at examples of [their] past jobs and review the approaches used, how weighting is applied, and the extent of data for review,” says broker Ray Smith of Stafford Smith Realty in New Jersey and Florida.

You’ll also want to consider their accreditations and references before making a decision. Some states require that business brokers be licensed, but others do not. Industry specialization, valuation accuracy, and good communication are also key factors. Costs will depend on the size of your business and the potential for litigation.

Legal fees

This is no time for a gentleman’s agreement. You’ll want every important document reviewed thoroughly.

Legal expenses vary by whether your attorney charges a fixed fee or is paid by the hour. Overall, legal fees generally account for between 1 percent and 2 percent of the sale price.

Accounting fees

Financial statements can make or break a business sale. You’ll need at least three years’ worth of income and cash-flow statements, as well as your balance sheet. Expect to pay thousands of dollars to have them prepared.

Broker fees

If you hire a broker to sell your business, expect to pay 10 percent to 15 percent of the sale price. If it sells for more than $1 million, any amount above that figure is generally charged a lesser percentage. Such fees are always contingent upon a successful sale.

Taxes

How the sale of your business is taxed depends on your business structure and your state. If the structure is an LLC, partnership, or S corporation, it’s a pass-through entity in which you pay taxes on company profits and business sale profits. If your business is a C corporation, expect to be taxed at the corporate and shareholder level.

Whether you sell your business via an asset sale or a stock sale makes a big difference. Sellers generally prefer a stock sale, because the current long-term federal capital gains top tax rate is 20 percent (along with a 3.8 percent net investment tax), while the top rate for a business sale is 37 percent. Sellers can also expect to pay long-term capital gains taxes at the state level if your state levies an income tax. 

The IRS considers the sale of a business for a lump sum as a sale of each individual asset rather than a single asset. The various assets of a business — such as real property, capital assets, inventory, and depreciable property — have their gains or losses figured separately.

When it comes to taking care of your employees, you should be doing it with gusto.

And thanks to Gusto’s HR software, you can! It centralizes helpful features, allowing you to manage your payroll and administer employee benefits in one place, as well as track professional development progress and extend your employees the growth opportunities they want. Look to the future, too, with hiring and onboarding tools that make it easy to select the right candidate and grow your team with purpose.

See the difference that a comprehensive HR management software can make in your business, when you sign up for Gusto today.

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Dr. Steven Rogelberg is a chancellor’s professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and the author of Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings.

Interviewing for a job is hard, emotional work, but negotiating an offer can be even more intense. Here are tips to increase the chances of getting what you want:

• Likability matters. You don’t want to come across as greedy and petty. Practice with others to get feedback on your approach.
• Create a logical case for your wants. Clearly justify why you’re asking for what you’re asking for.
• Be sure they realize you are prepared to commit. You want them to believe this will indeed work out as soon as the terms in question are resolved.
• Share all your concerns at once. Detailing them one at a time throughout the negotiation can turn off the other party.
• Recognize they may have constraints. Ask questions to better understand their offer and situation. Figure out where they have flexibility and where they don’t to avoid running into a brick wall.
• Be an honest broker. Lies and deception may seem to get you what you want, but they ultimately aren’t helpful for the long-term relationship or your personal success.
• Consider the entire package being offered. You likely can’t get everything you want, but success in one area can compensate for lacking traction in another. Focus on what is most important to you. Pick your battles — and not everything has to be a battle.
• Don’t provide ultimatums. Unless it truly is a deal-breaker, the tactic can shut down communication.
• Try to be patient. Negotiations take time. Delays likely don’t reflect a lack of interest; they’re simply part of the process. With all these tips, hopefully it won’t be long until you hear, “Welcome to the team.”

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Even if you’ve never banged a drum, you’ve seen Zildjian’s cymbals many times over the course of your life (the company has enjoyed up to 65 percent of the world’s cymbal market share). But that logo has endured over many, many more lifetimes — ever since 1623. Very few brands can say that Sultan Osman II played a role in their creation!

The Ottoman sultan hired an alchemist named Avedis to turn common metal into gold, a popular 17th-century pursuit known as transmutation. Avedis did not succeed (probably because it’s impossible), but he stumbled across a sonically pleasing alloy in his attempts. Avedis passed the knowledge of his cymbal alchemy through generations, earning the title Zildjian, or cymbal smith.

In the 1920s, the Zildjian family relocated their operation to a factory in Quincy, Massachusetts, where the cymbals were further developed by elite jazz artists. That makes Zildjian the oldest family firm in the U.S., an achievement worth more than gold.

Written by Jane Meggitt and Dan Ketchum.