Do you own investment property? What about a small business? Sooner or later, you will probably want to sell.

One of the downsides of selling a business or investment property is the huge tax bill at the end. Profits are likely subject to the capital gains tax—perhaps at a much higher rate than you expect.

A seller-financed installment sale enables you to defer taxes to one or more later years, which is almost always a good idea.

And the installment sale could cut your tax bill if spreading out your profits over multiple years puts you in a lower tax bracket.

But as with most programs that can lower your taxes, your lawmakers and the IRS impose a number of limitations, as we will explain. ... Log in to view full article.