What to do in the year before you sell
Puts the steps for the year before a sale in the right order, shows the tax each one saves or puts off, and lists what to ask HMRC to confirm first. Some steps only work before you agree terms with a buyer.
Your answer
Enter your signing date, what you expect to receive and your other income to see your plan.
About this calculator
For owners who plan to sell the shares they hold in their own name in the next year or so. It puts the steps that can lower the tax on your sale in order, shows what each one is worth on your figures, and lists the anti-avoidance traps and the clearances to ask HMRC for. It doesn't choose a buyer, set a price or pick a pension.
You type the figures: the price, your income, the company's profit and spare cash. We don't read your accounts or share register. We assume the price is cash-free and debt-free, no other companies share the company's Corporation Tax limits, and today's rates for every step, even in a later tax year. Tax for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Not covered: trusts or gifts to anyone but a spouse, inheritance tax, tax on drawing the pension, earn-outs, or a sale of the business's assets.
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 tax the sale and any dividend for every mix of the two steps that change your own tax, giving shares to your spouse and paying a dividend first, and pick the cheapest. The tax saved is the difference from doing nothing. If you aren't sure you get the lower rate for selling a business, we use the usual rates and show what it would be worth.
A pension payment, a share swap and staff options put tax off or help the company, so they're shown beside the saving, not in it. The order of the steps and applying for clearance 90 days before signing are our own planning view.
In the example, a £2 million sale with half the shares given to a spouse saves £2,982. Paying out the £300,000 of spare cash first would cost more, so it stays in the price.
Worked example
On your figures, the steps in this plan could save you £2,982 of tax.
2026/27 rates · no buyer yet · signing 31 March 2027 · you own all of the company · a gift of 50% to your spouse tried · no associated companies · a cash-free, debt-free price
| What you expect to receive for your shares | £2,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Less what you paid for them | − £100 |
| Profit on the sale | £1,999,900 |
| Lower tax rate for selling a business (Business Asset Disposal Relief): 18% on up to £1,000,000 of profit | Yes |
| Tax on the sale and dividends if you do nothing | £491,256 |
| Most you could take as a dividend first | £300,000 |
| Less: give 50% of your shares to your spouse | − £2,982 |
| Tax with the plan | £488,274 |
| Most the company can pay into your pension this tax year | £60,000 |
| Corporation Tax the pension payment saves the company | £15,000 |
| Corporation Tax relief when staff use their EMI options | £25,150 |
| Share swap clearance: ask HMRC by 31 December 2026 | £548,274 |
| Transactions in securities clearance: ask HMRC by 31 December 2026 | |
| Tax you could save by following the plan | £2,982 |
Worked out with the 2026/27 rates for tax on dividends and on selling shares, Corporation Tax and the pension limits (Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, Income Tax Act 2007, Finance Act 2004), using today's rates for every step. The order of the steps and applying for clearance 90 days before signing are our own planning view, not law. Not legal or tax advice.
Questions people ask
Why does the order of the steps matter?
Some steps must be done before you agree terms with a buyer, and a gift of shares has to come before a dividend if the dividend is to be split. Doing them in the wrong order can lose the saving or invite a challenge from HMRC.
What is an advance clearance?
A written answer from HMRC, before you act, saying it doesn't see tax avoidance as a main purpose of a step. HMRC has 30 days to answer, so we suggest applying about 90 days before you sign.
Is the saving certain?
No. It's our best estimate from the figures you typed and today's rates. The price, the deal terms and the Budget can all change it, so check with an adviser before you act.
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