This is one of the conversations I have with founders.

Not because it's complicated financially. But because it involves admitting something most people would rather not think about yet.

That one day, they may want to sell. And they have no real idea what that would actually look like.

How it usually starts

Most founders build their business without ever working out what a sale of it would look like on paper.

Not because they're not thinking about exit. Plenty are. It's the plan, eventually, somewhere down the line.

But working it out feels premature. Or like tempting fate. Or just one more job for a day that hasn't come yet.

So it stays a someday problem. Not a this year problem.

And most of the time, that's fine. Right up until something changes the maths without anyone telling you.

It's not about selling now. It's about knowing.

There's a tax relief called Business Asset Disposal Relief. It's what reduces the Capital Gains Tax you pay when you sell or wind up your company, instead of you paying the full rate.

It's not new. But it's been shrinking.

It sat at 10% for years. Then it rose to 14% in April 2025. Then it rose again to 18% this April. Two increases in two years, on a relief that used to feel fixed.

There's a lifetime limit of £1 million of gains it applies to.

The Autumn Budget lands on Wednesday 28 October. Nothing has been confirmed yet about this relief or Capital Gains Tax more broadly. Budget season always brings speculation, because this is exactly the kind of area where a small rule change raises real money for the Treasury.

I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen. Nobody outside the Treasury knows yet.

What I will say is this. Every change so far has gone the same way. Up.

The signs to look for

You don't need to be selling next month for this to matter to you.

You might be one of these founders if:

You've never actually calculated what a sale of your business would net you today.

You're not sure whether your business, as it's currently structured, would even qualify for this relief in full.

You assume "I'll sort that out closer to the time" is a fine strategy.

None of that means you're doing anything wrong. It usually just means exit has always felt like a future problem, so nobody's ever sat down and turned it into a today problem.

What do you actually do about it?

This is where founders get stuck. It can feel like there's nothing to actually do until you're ready to sell.

There is. Usually one of four things.

1. Know your numbers

Make sure your numbers are in great shape. Monthly accurate and timely reports and realistic forecasts.

2. Check whether you'd qualify for the relief at all

Qualifying isn't automatic. Share structure, ownership and how long you've held what matters. Some of that takes years to fix, not weeks.

3. Model a couple of scenarios

What does it look like if you sold in two years. Five years. Ten. Seeing the range makes the whole thing feel less abstract and a lot less scary.

4. Build it into your regular planning, not a one-off panic

The founders who handle this best don't do a frantic review the month a buyer shows interest. They know their position every year, Budget or no Budget, so nothing about a sale catches them off guard.

The conversation founders avoid

The most expensive option is not looking at all.

Founders put this off because it feels too far away to matter yet. Or because working out the number makes the eventual sale feel real in a way that's uncomfortable. Or because there's always something more urgent this month.

The business keeps growing. The gap between what you assume you'd get and what you'd actually get keeps growing with it. And that gap only gets found out at the worst possible time, in the middle of an actual sale, when there's no time left to fix it.

What good looks like

Whatever stage your business is at, you should know one thing without having to guess.

Are your numbers actually ready to be looked at properly today. And if you looked, what would you change, if anything.

Not a hope. An honest answer, based on your business as it stands today.

If you're not sure, the sensible move isn't to panic about the Budget. It's to find out, so that whatever happens on 28 October, you're reacting from a place of knowing your numbers, not guessing.

The business you’re building deserves a finance function that can keep up with it.

Not sure if your current finance setup is right for where your growing business is going?

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