For most UK business owners, selling purely to beat a tax change before April 2026 is rarely the right decision on its own. In practice, exits are shaped far more by the quality, resilience, and transferability of the business than by marginal changes in Capital Gains Tax.
When this question comes up, it’s usually a signal rather than a conclusion. Either you’re closer to an exit than you think, or you’re beginning to question whether your business would genuinely stand up to scrutiny if you ever chose to sell.
Tax influences outcomes. Readiness determines them.
Why this question feels urgent right now
Recent Budget changes, combined with persistent commentary about “windows closing”, have created understandable anxiety. For some owners, the fear is leaving money on the table. For others, it’s the worry of missing the right moment altogether.
Both reactions are human. Neither is a strategy.
Urgency has a habit of pushing founders towards decisions that feel logical in the moment, but look misaligned in hindsight, particularly when the decision in question is the largest financial one they will ever make.
What I’m seeing across UK business owners
Across businesses ranging from £2m to £50m turnover, a consistent pattern is emerging. Many owners are focusing heavily on tax mechanics while quietly assuming their business is “ready enough” to sell. At the same time, fatigue is creeping in and fatigue often disguises itself as logic.
None of this is unusual. But it does matter.
Urgency without readiness rarely leads to good exits.
A more useful way to frame the decision
When you look at this question through a buyer’s eyes, the emphasis shifts quickly. Buyers don’t pay premiums for good timing or clever structuring; they pay for confidence. Specifically, confidence that the business will continue to perform without the founder being central to everything.
From a valuation perspective, small improvements in leadership depth, resilience, and predictability typically outweigh tax differences by a wide margin. These factors influence not just price, but also deal structure and certainty of completion.
From an optionality perspective, the strongest position a founder can be in is knowing they could sell – not feeling that they should.
Buyers pay for confidence, not timing.
What this means at different stages
If you’re preparing to exit within the next 1–2 years, this question is less about rushing to market and more about pressure-testing reality. Buyers will expose weaknesses whether you like it or not. Identifying them early gives you the chance to address them deliberately and retain control.
If you’re building a business you might sell in 5–10 years, tax changes matter far less than embedding transferability early. Optionality compounds quietly when the business no longer depends on you to function.
The common mistake
Treating the exit as an event to time, rather than an outcome to prepare for. Timing may influence tax. Readiness influences everything else.
The quieter reframe
Founders who exit well rarely obsess about the exact moment they sell. They focus on building businesses that are attractive, resilient, and transferable – so selling becomes a choice, not a reaction.
A final thought
This is exactly the type of question the Exit Readiness Report is designed to surface objectively — showing where confidence is strong, where risk remains, and where value may be quietly leaking away.
It’s also a theme I explored while writing The Exit Roadmap: the exits that work best are rarely rushed — they’re prepared.
If you couldn’t sell your business tomorrow, what would need to change first?
When founders move beyond tax timing and start questioning true readiness, the most valuable clarity comes from seeing the business through a buyer’s lens.
The Exit Readiness Report shows exactly how buyers will view your business, what strengthens valuation, what quietly undermines it, and where deals most often come unstuck. By clearly exposing risk, readiness, and value drivers, it allows you to act early, reduce uncertainty, and position your business for an exit with leverage, confidence, and control on your terms, not a buyer’s.
This approach reflects how Chalkhill Blue works with owner-led SMEs: building exit-ready businesses years in advance, not dressing them up at the end. Review our approach and experience at chalkhillblue.org
