Get the timing right
Good capital gains tax advice is mostly about sequencing. The gain on a property, a share portfolio or a company is largely fixed; what you can still control is when the disposal happens, whose name it happens in, and what surrounds it: allowances, losses, wrappers and reliefs. Those choices are worth real money, and they close once the sale completes.
An independent adviser works alongside your accountant on exactly these decisions. The accountant computes and reports; the adviser plans the disposal and what happens to the proceeds. Our introduction to a vetted, FCA-regulated adviser is free and without obligation.
How an independent adviser helps with a disposal
Timing against tax years
Completing either side of 5 April changes which year the gain lands in, which rates apply, and how many annual exempt amounts you can use. Phasing a large disposal across two tax years is one of the oldest tools in planning, and still one of the most effective.
Using both of a couple’s positions
Transfers between spouses and civil partners are normally free of capital gains tax, which means a disposal can often use two annual exemptions and two sets of tax bands rather than one. It has to be done properly and in advance.
Losses, reliefs and wrappers
Realised losses offset gains, unused losses carry forward once reported, and reliefs from BADR on business sales to private residence relief on property each have conditions worth checking early. Future gains can be sheltered in ISAs and pensions so the same problem shrinks over time.
A plan for the proceeds
The disposal is half the job. An adviser also builds the reinvestment plan: what the money is for, which wrappers it fills, and how it is invested once the tax position is settled.