PhoenixGoDaddy stayed and went public
GoDaddy was founded in Phoenix in 1997 by Bob Parsons and is now a public company headquartered in Tempe.
Wikipedia, 1997
Sell a business in Arizona
The road from today to the years after a sale runs through Arizona's rules. Here it is in the order you will meet them: where you stand, what the state takes, the rules of the sale, who buys, and what the money can do after.
ComplexityMediumTax on the gain2.5% 2025Deal volumeHigh
Arizona is a busy market for business sales, with a deep bench of buyers. The state's cut of the gain is modest, 2.5% at the top, with part of a long-term gain excluded. Expect a tax-clearance or bulk-sale notice before closing, and a licensed broker.
Tax on the gain: A quarter of a long-term gain is excluded.
Today
Where you stand
Arizona taxes a long-term gain at an effective 1.875 percent and lets a trust run five centuries.
Over 700,000 small firms, more openings than closings, and a Phoenix market where Sun Belt roll-ups in pool care, healthcare, and services buy local owners out.
Small business footprint
0
small businesses
0.0M
employees
0.0%
of workforce
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025
Arizona had 706,640 small businesses, 99.5 percent of all firms, with 1.2 million employees or 42.6 percent of the workforce.
Establishments, March to March
0
opened
0
closed
0
net gain
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2024
Between March 2023 and March 2024, 28,101 establishments opened and 21,351 closed, a net gain of 6,750.
The purchase of AZ Veteran Pool Care by SPS PoolCare was its 21st Arizona acquisition in a Sun Belt roll-up of pool service companies.
The elements this touches
- TmTime The years before you want out. It feeds the exit-readiness score and never moves the price; every other decision is planned against it.
ListenThe Arizona briefing, read aloud
The deal team on what changes when you sell a business in Arizona.
Before the letter of intent
What Arizona takes
The tax on the gain, and what to settle before a buyer names a price
A flat 2.5 percent income tax with a quarter of long-term gains excluded, no estate tax since 2005, and from 2026 the exclusion covers assets bought at any time.
State tax on the gain
0.0%
A quarter of a long-term gain is excluded.
Tax Foundation, 2025
A founder on film
On what he learned about tax on the way to the sale.
Lewis Titus Wastewater purification and manufacturing · Wyoming
Effective rate of 1.875 percent
The flat 2.5 percent income tax and the 25 percent long-term gain subtraction leave an effective state rate of 1.875 percent on a long-term gain.
Subtraction widens from 2026
Until 2025 the subtraction covered only assets acquired after December 31, 2011; from tax year 2026 it applies to every long-term gain.
No estate tax since 2005
Arizona has imposed no estate tax on decedents dying after 2004.
The rate is the state's top rate on the gain for the year shown, the same figure as the indicator in the hero, so the two can never disagree.
The elements this touches
- TxTax Strategy The deal and entity structure, set before the letter of intent. FNDRS tracks whether it is in place. It never moves the price; it changes what you keep.
- ApAfter-Tax Proceeds What you keep at close. FNDRS records the pre-tax walk-away and the gap to your number. It never moves the price, and the tax on it is a question for your CPA.
Under contract and at closing
The rules of the sale
The rules a sale in Arizona runs under
Unpaid taxes become a lien on a sold business, so buyers hold back cash until the letter of good standing arrives; courts trim but do not rewrite non-competes.
01The buyer withholds for taxes
Under A.R.S. 42-1110 a buyer must withhold enough purchase money for the seller’s taxes until the Department issues a receipt or a certificate that nothing is due.
Arizona State Legislature
02Letter of Good Standing
The seller requests a Letter of Good Standing from ADOR with the Tax Clearance Application; a buyer should insist on it to avoid inheriting the seller’s tax liabilities.
Arizona Department of Revenue
03Courts strike, never rewrite
Arizona courts may strike a grammatically severable, unreasonable clause from a non-compete but will not rewrite the agreement for the parties.
Harrison Law
The elements this touches
- LcLegal & Compliance Contracts, licences, and filings in order and enforceable. The FNDRS valuation reads it, and the score moves the multiple.
- DrData Room The documents a buyer will ask for, ready before they ask. FNDRS tracks it in the deal-readiness report card; it decides how fast and how cleanly a deal closes.
One thing you would not guess
An income-tax state where a long-term gain is effectively taxed below 2 percent, and where the legislature just widened the break.
Combining the 2.5 percent flat rate and the 25 percent subtraction, a $100,000 long-term gain is taxed on $75,000, about $1,875 of Arizona tax.
When the process opens
Who buys
Who shows up for a business in Arizona
Phoenix founders built GoDaddy and Carvana; the everyday exits are service companies sold to out-of-state platforms and consolidators, often backed by private equity.
PhoenixCarvana stayed public
Carvana, founded in 2012 and based in Tempe, has stayed public rather than selling.
Wikipedia, 2012
PhoenixAdvisory firms find buyers
Recent Arizona sellers include Anavate Partners of Phoenix (to Plano, Texas-based Argano) and Clearview Wealth Advisors (to EP Wealth).
PrivSource, 2025
The elements this touches
- SyStrategic Synergy What one buyer gains that another cannot. The buyer at the table prices it, which is why the sell-side process goes looking for them.
Day 0, and the years after
After the close
What Arizona lets the proceeds do
Arizona lets a trust vest within 500 years and has no estate tax, but a founder cannot be a beneficiary of an asset protection trust settled here.
CloseDay 0
Proceeds land. What the state keeps of them is settled above; what it lets them do from here is below.
A.R.S. 14-2901500 yrs
A.R.S. 14-2901 lets a future interest vest up to 500 years after creation, but a 2018 Attorney General opinion called that provision likely unconstitutional.
No self-settled trusts
Arizona does not authorise self-settled asset protection trusts; a hybrid trust works only if the grantor is not a beneficiary.
WealthWhere FNDRS comes in
The post-exit wealth plan is the third act of the same engagement, and it starts in diligence, before the letter of intent, when a move or a trust can still change the answer.
FNDRSThe elements this touches
- EsEstate Architecture Trusts and ownership set up before the letter of intent. It changes what the family keeps, not what a buyer pays.
- ApAfter-Tax Proceeds What you keep at close. FNDRS records the pre-tax walk-away and the gap to your number. It never moves the price, and the tax on it is a question for your CPA.
People who walked it
Founders
Founders who worked with FNDRS, in their own words
From founders elsewhere
What founders say about working with FNDRS
No founder in Arizona is quoted yet. These are founders in other states, quoted word for word, each described by role and state.
1 of 3
“I definitely don't think we'd be in the same spot without you guys.”
No founder in Arizona is on film yet. These are founders in other states who worked with FNDRS.47 founders on film
Nearby
Other states in the West
| West | Tax on the gain | Complexity | Deal volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | None 2025 | Very low | Very low |
| California | 13.3% 2025 | Medium | Very high |
| Colorado | 4.4% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Hawaii | 7.25% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Idaho | 5.3% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Montana | 4.1% 2025 | Low | Very low |
| Nevada | None 2025 | Medium | Low |
| New Mexico | 5.9% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Oregon | 9.9% 2025 | High | Medium |
| Utah | 4.5% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
| Washington | 9.9% 2025 | High | High |
| Wyoming | None 2025 | Low | Very low |
Your next step
The road starts with one step
Know where you stand in fifteen minutes, or talk the Arizona sale through with a dealmaker. Either way, no pitch and no obligation.
Selling in Arizona? Start with a conversation
No pitch and no obligation. If the honest answer is not yet, we will say so, and say what to work on.