Is it too late if I have already signed heads of terms?

Not necessarily. Some decisions, like the split between cash and deferred consideration, are hard to reopen. Others, including pension contributions before completion, the timing of completion against the tax year, and everything that happens to the proceeds, are still open. An adviser will tell you quickly which is which.

My accountant is handling the tax. What does an adviser add?

Your accountant computes and reports the gain and advises on the corporate side. The adviser owns your personal plan: what the proceeds need to do for you, which wrappers they go into, how they are invested and drawn. The two work together, and neither replaces the other.

How early is early enough?

Two years before a sale, because the BADR qualifying period and any change to who holds shares both need that long. Twelve months still leaves most decisions open. Three months before completion is late, but the plan for the proceeds is still entirely open.

What happens to deferred consideration and earn-outs?

They can be taxed at a different time, and sometimes at a different rate, from the cash element. The timing of the tax against the timing of the money is one of the things the adviser and accountant look at together.

Does selling change my inheritance tax position?

Usually yes. Shares in a trading company can qualify for business relief from inheritance tax. The cash you receive for them does not. Advisers routinely build the estate plan alongside the sale plan for this reason.

What does the advice cost?

Advisers set their own fees and agree them with you in writing before any work starts. Exit planning is usually priced as a project, with an ongoing charge afterwards if they manage the proceeds. For context, the FCA-cited averages across all advice are 2.4% initial and 0.8% a year ongoing. IFA Connect's introduction is free to you; advisers pay to be part of our network.

Financial advice when selling your business

Start planning your exit

Good financial advice when selling a business starts earlier than most owners expect. The decisions that shape your after-tax position, how the deal is structured, when it completes, and what happens to the proceeds, are largely settled by the time heads of terms are signed. An independent adviser working alongside your accountant and solicitor helps you make those calls while they are still open.

The advisers we introduce are FCA regulated, whole of market, and experienced with business exits specifically: owners selling trading companies, partners exiting practices, and founders taking a mix of cash and deferred consideration. The introduction is free and there is no obligation to proceed.

Is this you?

You have had an approach for the business, or you are planning to sell within the next one to three years.
You are a partner leaving a practice, or a founder taking part of the price as deferred consideration or an earn-out.
You have already signed heads of terms and want to know what is still open.
You sold recently and the proceeds are sitting in a current account while you work out what to do.

How an independent adviser helps with a sale

Before the sale: structure and timing

Whether you qualify for Business Asset Disposal Relief, how the consideration is split, and which tax year the gain lands in can each move the final bill significantly. An adviser helps you weigh these choices before they are locked into the deal.

Around completion: reliefs and allowances

From BADR and capital gains tax rates to pension contributions in your final trading years, there is a window around completion where allowances can still be used well. Advice here is about sequencing, not products.

After the sale: a plan for the proceeds

A seven-figure bank balance is a starting point, not a plan. An independent adviser builds the after-sale picture: how much you need for income, what sits in which tax wrapper, and how the rest is invested for the long term.

Alongside your other professionals

Your accountant handles the computation and your solicitor the contract. The adviser owns the personal financial plan that the sale feeds into, and coordinates with both so nothing falls between the three.

What the numbers look like

Illustrative only. Every sale is different and the figures below ignore base cost, costs of sale and any other reliefs.

An owner sells a trading company for £3m in the 2026/27 tax year. She has held the shares for ten years, works in the business, and qualifies for Business Asset Disposal Relief. Her gain, after a modest base cost, is £2.9m.

The first £1m of the gain is taxed at the BADR rate of 18%, which is £180,000. The remaining £1.9m is taxed at 24%, which is £456,000. Total capital gains tax: £636,000, before the £3,000 annual exemption.

Now the questions an adviser would have raised eighteen months earlier. If her husband had held a qualifying stake for two years and worked in the business, his own £1m BADR limit would have applied to his share of the gain, at 18% rather than 24%: a difference of £60,000 on that £1m. If the company had made employer pension contributions in the final trading years, up to £60,000 a year plus up to three years of unused allowance, those sums would have left the company with corporation tax relief rather than being taxed as part of the sale. And the day after completion, around £2.4m of cash has replaced shares that qualified for business relief from inheritance tax, so her estate's exposure has changed overnight.

Timing matters too. For sales on or after 6 April 2027, BADR covers only the first £500,000 of lifetime gains, so the same sale made after that date would cost her £30,000 more.

None of that is a recommendation. It is the list an adviser works through with you while the choices are still open.

Key facts for 2026/27

Last reviewed 30 October 2026

BADR rate: 18% on the first £1m of qualifying gains over your lifetime (£500,000 for sales on or after 6 April 2027), up from 14% in 2025/26 and 10% before April 2025. To qualify on a share sale you need two years of ownership, at least 5% of the shares and votes, and to be an officer or employee.

Gains above the £1m limit: 24% for a higher rate taxpayer, 18% within any unused basic rate band.

Annual exemption: £3,000 per person. It cannot be carried forward.

Pension contributions: up to £60,000 a year, with up to three years of unused allowance carried forward. Employer contributions are not limited by your own earnings.

Business relief: shares in a trading company can qualify for 100% relief from inheritance tax on the first £2.5m per person from 6 April 2026, 50% above that. Cash from a sale has no relief.

Contracts straddling 6 April 2026: a contract exchanged before that date but completed after it may still be taxed at 14%, but only if it was a commercial arrangement rather than one made to fix the timing.

Deposit protection: FSCS covers £120,000 per person per bank, and temporary high balances up to £1.4m for six months after a life event such as a business sale.

What happens when you get in touch

You tell us where the sale is, roughly what the business is worth, and whether you have an accountant and solicitor already engaged. One of our team calls you within a working day to go through it properly. We then introduce you to an adviser who has handled exits at your scale, usually within a week, and you meet them with no fee and no commitment. If the sale is further along than we can usefully help with, we will say so on the call.

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