Sioux FallsRaven sold to CNH Industrial
CNH Industrial bought Sioux Falls-based Raven Industries at $58 a share, a $2.1 billion enterprise value, closing in late 2021.
CNH Industrial, 2021
Sell a business in South Dakota
The road from today to the years after a sale runs through South Dakota'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.
ComplexityLowTax on the gainNone 2025Deal volumeVery low
South Dakota is one of the quietest markets, where the strongest buyers are usually brought in from outside the state. The state takes none of the gain. Expect a licensed broker.
Tax on the gain: No state income tax.
Today
Where you stand
South Dakota takes nothing from the gain, licenses the people who broker the sale, and holds more family trust money than almost anywhere.
A small-firm economy: roughly 97,000 small businesses employ 58 percent of workers, and the count grew about eight percent between the 2023 and 2025 SBA profiles.
Small businesses
0
counted by the SBA, 98.9 percent of all firms in the state.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025
Small-business employees
0
employed by small businesses, 58.0 percent of the state's employees.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2025
Small businesses, 2023 profile
0
counted two profiles earlier, with 209,638 employees, so the base is growing.
SBA Office of Advocacy, 2023
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 South Dakota briefing, read aloud
The deal team on what changes when you sell a business in South Dakota.
Before the letter of intent
What South Dakota takes
The tax on the gain, and what to settle before a buyer names a price
No individual income tax, so the state takes nothing from a capital gain, and there is no estate or inheritance tax either.
State tax on the gain
0%
No state income tax.
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
No state tax on gains
South Dakota has no personal income tax, so short-term and long-term gains on a business sale carry no state tax.
No estate or inheritance tax
The state levies neither an estate tax nor an inheritance tax.
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 South Dakota runs under
Employee non-competes are capped at two years and the home county plus neighbours, the buyer inherits unpaid sales tax, and brokering a sale is licensed real estate activity.
01Non-competes capped at two years
SDCL 53-9-11 lets an employee non-compete run up to two years, only in the county worked and contiguous counties.
South Dakota Legislature, 2025
02Buyer inherits unpaid sales tax
A buyer of a South Dakota business becomes responsible for the seller's unpaid sales and use tax; the Department of Revenue advises checking before closing.
Nolo, 2024
03Business brokers need a licence
Marketing a business, negotiating terms, and taking a success fee count as real estate activity, so a business broker needs a Real Estate Commission licence.
The Deal Flow Source, 2026
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
A state of under a million people administers more than $900 billion in trust assets, most of it belonging to families who have never lived there.
Trust assets administered in South Dakota reached about 906 billion dollars at the end of 2025, a record, even after a large crypto custodian left the state.
The state chartered five new trust companies in 2023 alone.
When the process opens
Who buys
Who shows up for a business in South Dakota
The state's best-known exit was a Sioux Falls public company sold to an overseas strategic buyer for its precision-agriculture technology.
Sioux FallsThe buyer wanted one division
Raven ran three divisions from Sioux Falls: precision agriculture, engineered films, and aerospace; the buyer wanted the first.
CNH Industrial, 2021
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 South Dakota lets the proceeds do
South Dakota abolished the rule against perpetuities in 1983 and taxes nothing inside a trust, which is why hundreds of billions in family money sits there.
CloseDay 0
Proceeds land. What the state keeps of them is settled above; what it lets them do from here is below.
Abolished in 1983Forever
In 1983 South Dakota became the first state to abolish the rule against perpetuities, so a trust there can last forever.
Trust assets rose $135 billion
Assets in South Dakota trusts rose by 135 billion dollars in 2024, from 680 billion to 815 billion, per the state Division of Banking.
WealthOpen to non-residents
A non-resident can use a South Dakota dynasty trust; it needs a South Dakota trustee and South Dakota governing law.
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 South Dakota 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 South Dakota is on film yet. These are founders in other states who worked with FNDRS.47 founders on film
Nearby
Other states in the Midwest
| Midwest | Tax on the gain | Complexity | Deal volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 4.95% 2025 | High | Very high |
| Indiana | 3% 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Iowa | 3.8% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Kansas | 5.58% 2025 | Medium | Low |
| Michigan | 4.25% 2025 | Medium | High |
| Minnesota | 9.85% 2025 | High | Medium |
| Missouri | None 2025 | Low | Medium |
| Nebraska | 5.2% 2025 | High | Low |
| North Dakota | 2.5% 2025 | Low | Very low |
| Ohio | 3% 2025 | Medium | High |
| Wisconsin | 7.65% 2025 | Medium | Medium |
Your next step
The road starts with one step
Know where you stand in fifteen minutes, or talk the South Dakota sale through with a dealmaker. Either way, no pitch and no obligation.
Selling in South Dakota? 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.