Few could blame you for wanting to pay as little tax as possible on your acquisition. After all, you’ve invested years into building your startup to the point of exit. Think of all the late nights and difficult phone calls. The sweat, nerves, and exhilaration as you leaped from one success milestone to another. Now it’s time to cash that check on your investment.

To minimize your tax liability on that check, consider pushing for a stock sale over an asset purchase. From a tax perspective, it’s the simplest transaction as you pay just one tax at one level of tax: capital gains on the value of your shares (long or short, depending on the length of time you’ve held the shares) at the stockholder level. But more importantly, a stock sale could qualify you for a tax exemption if you hold Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS).