profile

Brian Beers

Get tactical advice every week on finding, operating & scaling franchises.

Aug 05 • 2 min read

Tax-Free Franchise Exit


I just helped a client structure a deal that could save him $400k in taxes

Same business model. Same cash flow potential.

The only difference? The ownership structure.

The ROTH ROBS Setup:

The IRS has a program called “Roll Over Business Startup” or ROBS for short

It unlocks retirement funds to start a business, which includes funding a franchise.

A traditional ROBS uses pre-tax dollars, which means you’ll pay taxes in the future when you take distributions

There’s another strategy that most people don’t know about

It’s called a ROTH ROBS and here’s how it works:

You can roll over your 401(k) into an IRA, convert it to a ROTH, pay the taxes now, and then use it in a ROBS structure.

Taxes under Trump are historically low and they probably go up in the future.

Once converted into a ROTH the money can grow completely TAX FREE

Following the same ROBS structure, we use that money to fund a new franchise

BTW you must use a company that’s an expert in doing this conversion & setup.

Let’s say you need $500k total to launch:

  • $150k from your ROTH
  • $100k personal cash
  • $250k SBA loan

Your ROBS owns 60% of the business.

You personally own 40%.

The Tax-Free Wealth Play:

You grow the business to $625k annual profit and pay down the SBA debt to zero.

Eventually, you sell for 4X earnings = $2.5M total.

40% × $2.5M = $1M goes to you personally (and you’ll owe $250k to the IRS)

60% × $2.5M = $1.5M goes back into your ROTH account.

Completely tax-free, saving ~$400k in capital gains assuming the structure was compliant and you meet the ROTH distribution rules.

You just 10X’d your retirement account from $150k to $1.5M without paying a dime in taxes on the growth (as long as the rules are followed)

Meanwhile, you’ve been pulling a salary for years, and if you structured it with personal ownership as well, taking distributions too.

From there, you could use that money to rinse & repeat another business, invest in stocks, or any other eligible investment.

This isn’t risk-free money.

If the business fails, you'd lose all those retirement account funds.

Adding debt makes it worse.

A better approach: start smaller with less leverage.

$300k total investment instead of $500k.

$150k SBA loan + $150k total equity.

Lower risk. Still massive upside potential.

You can always expand once cash flow proves the model works.

The Expansion Decision:

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Let’s say business is going well, and you want to expand the business.

The problem is that all 60% of the business cash flow is locked up since your retirement account owns it.

The solution is simple.

Start a new entity for expansion, funded with personal cash.

Now, growth happens outside the retirement structure.

You get immediate access to cash flow and distributions

The original ROTH business stays locked for the tax-free exit.

Why this works:

The ROTH grows tax-free inside the business structure.

When you exit, that growth stays in the retirement account.

No capital gains. No ordinary income tax on the ROTH portion.

Want my team's help in building a tax-advantaged wealth machine?

We’ll introduce you to the tax experts who can help structure these deals

Plus, help you find a scalable franchise

Click here to get started

Cheers!

Brian

P.S. I just launched the 💵 Cash Flow Club 💵.

Every week, I’ll send one real-world strategy I’m actively using inside our $50M/year portfolio to drive more sales, cut expenses, & improve our bottom line.

Learn more & sign up here

Brian Beers

Find me on X, LinkedIn
YouTube, Instagram

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
Unsubscribe | Preferences


Get tactical advice every week on finding, operating & scaling franchises.


Read next ...