In my hunting, I found a crazy deal. The owner really, really likes me, is tired of running his business, and proposed the following deal: I buy his company from him for $10M (~$6M in EBITDA), but instead of using investors, I would just pay him anything over my salary and taxes until I hit the $10M price tag (~3-4yrs). He moves to Chairman and me to CEO. Equity swap would happen at close.

The business is a C Corp, and he's asking me how he can reduce his tax burden so he can keep as much of the $10M as possible.

Does anyone have any creative ideas on how I can save him taxes on this sweetheart deal?

Thank you. Happy New Year!