From offer to completion: your timeline
Turns your heads of terms (the short document that sets out the price and the main terms) into a dated timeline to the day the sale finishes, shows which papers the buyer will ask for, and warns you when a date is at risk.
Your answer
Enter the day you signed the heads of terms and the day you hope to finish, to see your timeline.
About this calculator
For owners who have agreed a price and signed, or are about to sign, the heads of terms. It lays out the steps between that day and the day the sale finishes, which papers the buyer will ask for, and how long gathering the missing ones adds.
It warns you if your hoped-for date, or the buyer's exclusive period, looks too tight, and dates what follows: stamp duty on the shares, telling Companies House, and the tax on your sale. You type in your own answers: we don't connect to your bookkeeping or to Companies House.
The usual length of each step is our own planning allowance, not a legal deadline, so the dates are our best estimate. It doesn't draft any legal document or work out the tax on the sale.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
We start from the day you sign the heads of terms. Getting the papers ready takes a week, plus extra days for each group you don't have to hand (up to six weeks in all, because they're gathered side by side). The buyer then spends five weeks reading them, and two more weeks to agree the sale contract.
If you ask HMRC to confirm the tax first, the request goes two weeks after the heads of terms and we allow 30 days for the reply (60 for a sale to an employee ownership trust). It runs alongside, and signing waits for whichever path is longer.
In the example, the heads of terms are signed on 1 March 2027 with two groups of papers missing, which adds 12 days: the papers are ready on 20 March, the buyer finishes reading on 24 April and the contract is agreed on 8 May. HMRC's reply on 14 April comes sooner, so the sale can finish on 8 May 2027, 83 days before the 30 July target.
Worked example
The earliest the sale can realistically finish is 8 May 2027, 83 days before your target.
share sale to another business · our usual waiting times, not legal deadlines · sign and finish the same day · asking HMRC first · 10 of 12 groups of papers ready · calendar days · today's rules
| Day 0: you sign the heads of terms | 1 March 2027 |
|---|---|
| Day 14: you send HMRC your request to confirm the tax treatment (clearance) | 15 March 2027 |
| Day 19: your papers are ready for the buyer: 7 days to prepare, plus 12 days to gather 2 missing groups | 20 March 2027 |
| Day 44: HMRC replies, after our usual allowance of 30 days (by law HMRC has 30 days to answer a formal request) | 14 April 2027 |
| Day 54: the buyer finishes reading your papers and asking questions (35 days) | 24 April 2027 |
| Day 68: the sale contract is agreed (14 days) | 8 May 2027 |
| Day 68: contracts are signed and the sale finishes on the same day | 8 May 2027 |
| If you keep to your target, you sign on 30 July 2027 and finish on | 30 July 2027 |
| Stamp duty on the shares: 0.5% of the price, rounded up to the next £5 (nothing at £1,000 or less), paid by the buyer by 29 August 2027 | £12,000 |
| Tell Companies House about any new directors and the people now in control, within 14 days of finishing | 13 August 2027 |
| Tax on your sale, due 31 January after the tax year you sign in (2027/28) | 31 January 2029 |
The usual length of each step is our own planning allowance (7 days to prepare, 35 for the buyer's checks, 14 to agree the contract, 14 from signing to finishing when they're apart, and 30 or 60 days for HMRC). They're our judgement, not law or legal deadlines. The tax, stamp duty and Companies House dates are the official ones. Dates are calendar days.
Questions people ask
Why is my date later than the one in the heads of terms?
The date in the heads of terms is a hope, not a promise. We add up the usual time for each step and show the earliest date that adds up. Missing papers and waiting for HMRC are the usual reasons for the gap.
Can I speed this up?
Yes. Having the papers ready on the day you sign saves the most time. Each group you can mark as ready usually takes days off the timeline.
Are these the real dates for my sale?
They're planning dates. Your solicitor will set the real timetable in the sale contract, and the buyer's own pace matters too. The tax, stamp duty and Companies House dates follow the official rules.
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