Selling Your Business in 2026? Plan Ahead for Capital Gains Tax Changes

The Capital Gains Tax landscape is shifting. Reliefs have become less advantageous for business owners selling their business. The key to mitigating this increase is to start early.

Hunter Gee Holroyd 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

• 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

• Bring the right owners on board early (eg. senior team, EMI options) to support retention and succession.
• Understand which other CGT reliefs exist in principle.
• Revisit asset vs share sale.

Being prepared for due diligence

• 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.

How Hunter Gee Holroyd can help

A well-run business sale is a team effort. By involving Hunter Gee Holroyd early, our tax and corporate finance specialists can help you build a clear, practical exit plan that considers both the value of your business and the tax implications of the transaction. We can work alongside you to review your objectives, assess your readiness for sale and identify the actions that could strengthen the business before it is taken to market.

To discuss your plans, please email enquiries@hghyork.co.uk or contact your usual adviser at Hunter Gee Holroyd.