Disclosures

Effective date: September 27, 2026.

This page explains what this site is, who runs it, how he is paid and what the numbers can and cannot tell you. Please read it before you act on anything here.

This site is education

• The Waterfall Strategy and this site explain how installment sales work under IRC Section 453, including two ways to make one: seller financing and a structured installment sale. You can do everything in the book with seller financing, and the author earns nothing if you do.
• Every person and case in the book is an illustrative composite, not a real client. No result is typical.
• The results are model estimates based on stated assumptions (tax year, brackets, state rules, rates, a level payment schedule and more). Change an assumption and the answer changes. Estimates are not guarantees, and no result is a promise or a prediction of yours.
• It describes general federal and some state tax law as understood in 2026. Tax law and its interpretation change, and your facts will differ.
• Nothing on this site is tax, legal, accounting or investment advice. Reading the book or this site does not create an adviser, client or attorney relationship. Do not act on anything here without first reviewing your own facts with your own CPA or enrolled agent and your own tax attorney.
• "The Waterfall" is the name of a tax-planning idea, not of an insurance policy or annuity.

Who operates this site

• This site is operated by Hans Goldstein, who publishes tax education as Hans Goldstein: Tax & Exit Planning, 1401 21st St, Ste R, Sacramento, CA 95811. Phone 213-340-2018.
• Hans Goldstein: Tax & Exit Planning is not an accounting firm, a law firm or an investment adviser, and it does not prepare tax returns. Until Hans is enrolled as an enrolled agent, it charges no fee. Tax planning fees, when there are any, are charged by Hans Goldstein individually, doing business as Hans Goldstein: Tax & Exit Planning, under a written engagement letter, and are separate from and never credited against any insurance commission.
• Hans has passed all three parts of the IRS Special Enrollment Examination and expects to be enrolled in 2027. Until the IRS grants enrollment, he is not an enrolled agent and cannot represent anyone before the IRS. He is not a CPA, an attorney, a registered investment adviser or a securities broker.
• Hans is also a licensed insurance agent: California Insurance License #4273294, NPN 20602398, with nonresident licenses in other states. You can verify a license at the California Department of Insurance license lookup, or by NPN at the NAIC or NIPR public lookup.
• Insurance products are offered only through Goldstein & Co. LLC dba Goldstein Insurance Services. Goldstein & Co. LLC offers insurance only; it does not provide tax planning. This site is not an offer of any insurance product.

How the operator is paid: a conflict of interest

• If a structured installment sale funded with an annuity closes, the issuing life insurance company pays a commission of about 4% of the amount structured, one time, to the brokerage firm that places the structure. That firm pays Hans his share, currently about 2.4% of the amount structured. There is no trail or renewal commission. The commission is built into the pricing of the annuity. It is not a separate fee taken out of your payments, but it is a real cost reflected in the rate you receive.
• If a structure is funded another way, his compensation on it will be disclosed to you in writing before you decide. Before you decide, you can ask in writing for an estimate of his compensation on your transaction and get a written answer.
• Hans earns no commission if you use seller financing, take cash, do a 1031 exchange or do nothing at all. He does not pay or accept referral fees from anyone in connection with your transaction.
• The assignment company and any structured-sale provider may earn fees or a spread of their own. Ask them in writing.
• That is a conflict of interest: he is paid if you structure and not paid a commission if you do not. Weigh what you read here with that in mind, and judge the options on the rules and the math.

The structured installment sale, described

• In a structured installment sale, the buyer pays the deferred part of the price at closing to an assignment company, which takes on the obligation to pay you on a fixed schedule. The assignment company usually funds that obligation with a fixed annuity it owns from a life insurance company. This site does not name, offer or recommend any insurer or assignment company.
• The open legal question. No IRS ruling specifically approves the assignment structure. The IRS could argue that the structured amount was received at closing and tax it all in the year of sale, while the money stays locked up. Nothing on this site says or implies that the IRS has approved it.
• Credit risk. Your payments depend on the assignment company and on what funds it. 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.

Seller financing, described

• With seller financing you hold the buyer's promissory note, usually secured by the property. You depend on the buyer to pay. If the buyer defaults, your remedy is foreclosure or repossession, which costs time and money, and you may get back property in worse condition.
• If the buyer refinances or pays off early, the remaining gain is taxed in the year you are paid. You also service the note or pay someone to.

Risks that apply to any installment sale

• Section 1245 recapture is taxed in the year of sale. Note interest is ordinary income. State rules differ from federal.
• Fixed payments lose purchasing power to inflation.
• An installment note does not get a step-up in basis at death; property held until death may.
• If a position is challenged, penalties and interest can apply. Reliance on material from a website is not a defense; reliance on your own qualified, independent advisers who know all the facts is the right protection.

If you contact us

If you respond to this site by form, call, text or email, Hans Goldstein, a licensed insurance agent (CA Insurance License #4273294), will contact you and may discuss insurance products, including annuities. Before discussing any annuity transaction he will give you the written agent disclosure California requires. 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.

For CPAs, EAs and attorneys

This site is education, 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.

No warranty

This site is provided as is, without warranties of any kind, express or implied. The operator is not liable for any loss arising from use of or reliance on it. Where the law does not allow a full disclaimer, liability is limited to the fullest extent permitted. Please report errors to [email protected].