The Capital Gains Tax landscape is shifting. Reliefs have become less advantageous for business owners selling their business. The key to mitigate this increase is to start early.
Andrew Moss, Corporate Finance partner, discusses how you can work with us as your tax and corporate finance advisers, well before a sale, to protect value, avoid last‑minute compromises, and present the business in the best possible light.
Maximising value before you sell – get your business in shape
- Grow sustainable profits: recurring revenue, diversified customers, predictability.
- Improve the company’s structure and information systems to support a higher multiple.
- Widen the potential buyer pool: trade buyers, ETAs/MBIs, and PE‑backed platforms.
- Create competitive tension to strengthen price and terms.
- Consider a staged exit: sell control now, retain a minority for a second disposal later.
- Align incentives post‑deal to capture a higher blended multiple over time.
Structuring the deal and the ownership – make yourself dispensable
- Bring the right owners on board early (e.g. senior team, EMI options) to support retention and succession.
- Understand which other Capital Gains Tax reliefs exist in principle.
- Revisit asset vs share sale.
Being prepared for due diligence – no red flags
- Price is protected in diligence — remove reasons for the price to be chipped.
- Be able to prove your normalised EBITDA.
- Understand the working capital bridge and completion mechanics.
- Tidy contracts, employment, data protection, IP, and regulatory compliance.
- Keep financials clean: reconciled KPIs and a clear audit trail.
- Surface issues early with pragmatic fixes; avoid late surprises.
- Prepare a focused vendor due diligence pack and data room to answer buyers’ key questions.
A well‑run sale is a team effort.
If you achieve a higher price, the extra taxation could be easily mitigated.
If you would like to discuss how we can assist you in considering your exit strategy to ensure that tax increases are mitigated as much as possible, please email Andrew Moss – [email protected] or speak to your usual contact at our office.
