How to sell a business in Alberta, step by step

By Succession Market. Last updated 4 November 2026.

What are the steps to sell a business in Alberta?

There are six: find out what the business is worth, put your records in order, reach buyers confidentially, agree terms, let the buyer review your records, and close.

1. Learn what it is worth. Start with your owner earnings and a range, not a hope. Our guide on how many times profit a small business is worth shows how buyers count.
2. Put your records in order. BDC says a buyer and the buyer's accountant should be given accountant prepared year end statements for at least the past three to five years. Have them ready, with your tax returns, the lease, the equipment list, your contracts and your insurance.
3. Reach buyers without telling the town. A confidential sale starts with an anonymous profile: industry, region and headline numbers, with no name and no address. Nothing that identifies the business goes out without a signed confidentiality agreement.
4. Agree terms. Offers come together on a clear letter of intent. Every yes and every no is yours.
5. Let the buyer review your records. This is called due diligence. Documents open in stages, and the review runs on the timeline the offer sets.
6. Close. Your lawyer papers the deal, the conditions clear, and the money moves through a lawyer's trust account.

What is my business worth before I start?

It is worth what a buyer will pay for what it earns. BDC says the multiple for a small to medium sized business could range between three and six times EBITDA, and that it varies by industry and market conditions.

That is a general range, not your number. Our guide on how many times profit a small business is worth explains EBITDA, owner earnings and what moves a multiple up or down. A free sale plan gives you an estimated range, which is a pricing opinion for selling, not a certified appraisal.

Should I sell the shares or the assets?

It depends on how your business is set up, and your accountant works out which leaves more with you. In a share sale you sell your shares in the company. In an asset sale the company sells what it owns.

BDC says buyers may want to purchase assets because of the tax benefits it gives them. A seller with a qualifying company can have a reason to prefer shares: the lifetime capital gains exemption, covered below. If you run a sole proprietorship, there is no company and no shares to sell, because the CRA says the owner does not have separate legal status from the business.

Our guide on selling shares or assets sets the two side by side.

What taxes apply when I sell in Alberta?

Alberta has no sales tax. The federal GST still applies, and so does tax on any gain.

The GST election

The CRA says you and the buyer may be able to jointly elect to have no GST/HST payable on the sale of a business. Three things decide it.

• You are selling the business you carried on, not a few of its assets. The election cannot be made if you sell only one or more assets of the business.
• The buyer acquires at least 90% of the property that can reasonably be regarded as necessary to carry on the business.
• If you are a registrant, the buyer is one too. The election cannot be made if you are a registrant and the buyer is not.

The buyer files Form GST44 by the due date of their next GST/HST return in which tax would have been payable if the election had not been made. Some things stay outside it: you still charge GST/HST on taxable services to the buyer, on leases or licences of property, and on taxable sales of real property to a buyer who is not registered.

Tax on the gain

Half of a capital gain is taxed. The federal government had proposed raising that share and has cancelled the increase.

The lifetime capital gains exemption applies to gains on qualified small business corporation shares and on qualified farm or fishing property. The Canada Revenue Agency's 2026 table puts the limit at $1.275 million. Your accountant tells you the figure for the year you sell. The CRA's line 25400 page still shows the 2025 figure of $1,250,000, which is why you may see two numbers online. The CRA's 2026 table shows $1.275 million. In an asset sale the company is the seller, so ask your accountant how the exemption fits your sale.

Your lawyer papers the deal and your accountant advises on tax. Both are yours to choose.

What if the sale includes land, a building or a lease?

A licensed commercial realtor handles that part of the deal. We never do it ourselves.

Alberta's Real Estate Act counts a lease as a sale of an interest in real estate, and it says nobody may trade in real estate as a real estate broker without the appropriate licence. Land ownership in Alberta changes on the land title, through Land Titles, with a transfer of land form, and the realtor and the lawyers handle that transfer.

The CRA adds one point for the GST election: if land and a building are not part of the sale and the buyer gets them elsewhere, they and any other property bought separately should not be more than 10% of the fair market value of all the property needed to carry on the business. If the business owns its building or leases its premises, say so on your first call with a Senior Deal Advisor.

Which Alberta registrations and accounts change hands?

Four things: your staff's years of service, your WCB Alberta account, your corporation's registry record and your CRA accounts.

WCB Alberta also says that if an employer has defaulted on its premiums, WCB has priority on the property and on the proceeds of property used in connection with the business.

Selling in Calgary? Our page on selling a business in Calgary lists what you hand over there, from your City business licence to WCB clearance, with the sources.

Selling in Edmonton? Our page on selling a business in Edmonton lists what you hand over there, from your City business licence to WCB clearance, with the sources.

Selling in Lethbridge or Medicine Hat? Our page on selling a business in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat lists what each city asks of a new owner, from a licence that can transfer to one that cannot, with the sources.

What happens to my business licence when I sell?

Do not assume it goes with the business. Alberta has no single answer: cities and towns license businesses under their own rules, and some kinds of business also need a provincial licence or registration. Ask each issuer what a change of owner means.

In Edmonton, the City says that if a business is sold, the buyer must apply for a new business licence, and it asks the seller to cancel theirs as promptly as possible. Calgary asks you to notify it when a business changes ownership, and says that in some instances a new licence is required.

What your buyer must do shapes your closing date. Our guide on what an Edmonton business licence costs a buyer sets out the City's 2026 fees, its processing times and the food, liquor and fire steps that come with it.

How do I keep the sale confidential?

Keep the first look anonymous, and share names and numbers only with a buyer who has signed a confidentiality agreement.

In our process, a buyer first sees a profile with the industry, the region and headline numbers. It has no name and no address, and nothing a competitor could place. Buyers receive the complete package, with the name and the financials, only after they have signed a confidentiality agreement. The most sensitive material, such as customer lists and contracts, opens only after a signed offer, on the timeline the offer sets.

Questions owners ask

Sources

1. About Tax and Revenue Administration, Government of Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
2. Selling a business, Canada Revenue Agency, page dated 27 July 2026, read 21 October 2026.
3. Government of Canada introduces new Productivity Mega Deduction to boost Canada's advantage as the most competitive G7 country for new business investment, Finance Canada, dated 15 September 2026, read 21 October 2026.
4. Line 25400, Capital gains deduction, Canada Revenue Agency, page dated 5 February 2026, read 21 October 2026.
5. Update on the Canada Revenue Agency's administration of the proposed capital gains taxation changes, Canada Revenue Agency, page dated 31 January 2025, read 21 October 2026.
6. Sole proprietorship, Canada Revenue Agency, page dated 17 August 2026, read 21 October 2026.
7. How to value a business you'd like to acquire, BDC, updated 28 July 2025, read 21 October 2026.
8. Share transfers: How to minimize your taxes, BDC, updated 4 October 2022, read 21 October 2026.
9. Employment standards: termination and layoff, Government of Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
10. When is a clearance needed?, WCB Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
11. Change notices for corporations, cooperatives and organizations, Government of Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
12. Real Estate Act, Real Estate Council of Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
13. Change land title ownership, Government of Alberta, read 21 October 2026.
14. How a sale works, Succession Market, process page, read 21 October 2026.
15. How the free estimate works, Succession Market, valuation page, read 21 October 2026.
16. How the free sale plan works, Succession Market, sell page, read 21 October 2026.
17. How to conduct due diligence when buying a business, BDC, updated 24 November 2025, read 21 October 2026.
18. Adjustment of personal income tax and benefit amounts, Canada Revenue Agency, page dated 12 March 2026, read 21 October 2026.
19. Get a business licence, Government of Alberta, read 4 November 2026.
20. Update or Cancel Your Existing Business Licence, City of Edmonton, read 4 November 2026.
21. Manage your business, City of Calgary, read 4 November 2026.

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