According to the latest research, nearly half of entrepreneurs planning to sell their business are unaware of how much it is worth. The problem is particularly marked for the smallest businesses.
As accountants and business advisers we get to know our clients very well. From our position, it is all too clear to us that many clients are too focused on 'today' to give serious thought to the future.
Planning a strategy to maximise the assets of your business on sale requires patient, advance planning. You should start considering the issues a good five years before you plan to sell.
The relief is intended to replace Business Asset Taper relief for disposals by smaller business owners. It produces a net tax rate of 10% on the disposal, although for those making modest gains there is a slight increase in the actual tax burden compared to that payable under business asset taper relief because the CGT annual exemption saves less tax under this relief (at 18%) than it did under taper relief (at 40%).
In all successful businesses the issue of succession from the current owner to the next generation comes up, and one question that often arises is: when is the most appropriate time to begin planning for succession?
Two emerging trends in the small and medium-sized business sector seem to be conspiring to make family succession a thing of the past.
The riddle of the Sphinx asks, 'What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?' The answer, of course, is humankind - on all fours in infancy, on two feet through middle age, and supported by a stick in old age.
In business, your profits are your reward for your endeavours. In fact, profitability is the only reliable measurement of a business' success. Profits are the very lifeblood of a business.
Liable to capital gains tax? Take an initial look at your liability since the 22 June changes. Check our capital gains tax calculator.
Clients often ask us to help them value their business, and are surprised when we ask them for what purpose they require the valuation. The way we value a business depends upon the use to which the valuation will be put:
