The deal is the easy part.
The hard part — the one most exit conversations skip — is what happens to the proceeds, what reliefs you lose, and what your retirement actually looks like after the cash lands. That work needs to start years before the deal closes.
Most exit advice stops at the deal table.
Corporate finance advisers get you the best price. Solicitors structure the SPA. Accountants handle the tax computations. Each does their job well. But few of them are responsible for what happens to the post-tax proceeds — or for the planning that needs to start two, three, even five years before the sale.
The most valuable exit work happens before any buyer is in the picture. Business Asset Disposal Relief (the old “Entrepreneurs’ Relief”) needs you to have held shares for at least two years — and meet several other conditions. Business Property Relief for IHT needs the assets to qualify. Pension contributions still count as a deductible expense up to the day you stop trading.
Family succession is a different conversation again — gifts of shares, trusts, voting structures, and the tax consequences of each.
The cost of only planning the deal.
A clean sale process at a good price can still leave seven figures on the table if the planning around it was missed.
With proper exit planning
- Business Asset Disposal Relief secured — two-year shareholding tested
- Surplus cash dealt with before the sale to protect trading status
- Final-year pension contributions used while the company is still trading
- Family share gifts modelled for CGT, IHT and BPR
- Post-sale investment plan designed before the deal, not after it lands
- Co-ordinated with solicitor, accountant and corporate finance team
Without it
- BADR lost because of late share restructuring or non-trading status
- Surplus company cash taxed at full capital gains on disposal
- Final-year pension allowance unused, then locked out post-sale
- Family share transfers triggering avoidable IHT or CGT
- Proceeds sitting in cash for 18 months after the deal — losing real value
- Retirement plan started cold, after the cash has already landed
Strategy, not product pushing.
A four-step process that’s the same for every client — though the conclusions never are.
Map where you’re heading
Likely sale timeframe, succession or trade buyer route, family involvement, and what life looks like after the exit.
Pre-sale planning
BADR check, surplus cash management, pension wind-down, family share gifting strategy, IHT considerations.
Coordinate with the deal team
Solicitor, accountant and corporate finance team aligned on the personal-side planning that needs to happen before close.
Post-exit transition
Proceeds invested to a plan agreed before the cash landed. Retirement income strategy live from day one rather than improvised.
Things people often ask.
When should I start exit planning?
Three to five years before a sale is the sweet spot. Two years is the minimum to qualify for BADR. Anything less than that and several of the most valuable reliefs are off the table by definition.
What is Business Asset Disposal Relief?
Formerly known as Entrepreneurs’ Relief, BADR reduces the CGT rate on qualifying business disposals to 10% on the first £1m of lifetime gains. To qualify, the shareholding needs to be at least 5%, held for at least two years, with you as an officer or employee of a trading company.
What if I’ve got a lot of surplus cash in the company?
This is one of the most common BADR risks. A company with substantial non-trading assets (cash, investments, BTL property) can fail the “trading” test — making the whole shareholding ineligible for the relief. Dealing with surplus cash before sale is often the single highest-value pre-exit action.
How does family succession differ from a trade sale?
Gifting shares to family attracts CGT for the giver and IHT consequences on death within seven years — but with Business Property Relief, much of the IHT can be relieved if the structure is right. It needs its own planning timeline, separate from a sale.
What about Business Property Relief?
BPR can give 100% IHT relief on qualifying business shares held for at least two years. It’s a major reason exit planning needs to factor IHT in — selling the company often means losing BPR on the proceeds, unless they’re reinvested into other qualifying assets.
What happens to my income after the sale?
That’s the post-exit retirement plan — how the proceeds get invested, what gets drawn, in what order, with what tax efficiency. It should be designed before the sale completes, not improvised in the weeks afterwards.
Let’s start with a conversation.
An initial review is without obligation. The earlier the conversation starts, the more options stay open — whether you’re three months or three years from selling.