Hello,
I closed my small sole proprietorship business two years ago. I have recently been contacted by someone who wants to buy it. Since it's been closed so long and no longer registered, I'm wondering how I would categorize this with the IRS. If the sale goes through, would the payment be self-employment income and taxed the 15.3% or is there another way to claim the money I'm paid?

There are no real raw materials or equipment left of the business. What I would be selling are recipes, branding, customer list, etc. In addition, I will be hired as a consultant to teach my production process. For the consulting, I'm sure that's self-employment income. I'm just hoping there's some way to report the income from the sale of the business without having to pay that 15.3%.

Any ideas?