It was widely expected that in the recent Budget the Chancellor would either remove or restrict further the reliefs available under the Capital Gains Tax (“CGT”) regime in relation to Business Asset Disposal Relief (formerly Entrepreneur’s Relief). However CGT remained unscathed but many commentators consider that this was merely a stay of execution and that the Chancellor may well revisit CGT at a later date possibly in the 2021 Autumn Statement or in the March 2022 Budget. It is worth remembering that the Office of Tax Simplification has already reported on the need to align CGT to Income Tax so it would be surprising if the Chancellor does not revisit this report at some point.

We are therefore of the opinion that business owners considering the closure and solvent winding up of their companies (as a tax efficient means of distributing the company’s assets to shareholders) should think about progressing any proposed plans sooner rather than later ahead of any further changes that may be forthcoming.

It is difficult to predict what such changes might be but we think it is a safe assumption that any changes will not be beneficial and could include a reduction of the lifetime allowance (currently £1million), a change to the rate (currently 10%), increased anti-avoidance measures and possibly a restriction on the business owners ages (to align it to a true retirement plan).

We completed a large number of solvent winding up’s in the lead up to this year’s Budget and we consider ourselves to be the market leaders in the Thames Valley in this area of work where we have considerable knowledge and expertise, working alongside the business owners and their existing advisers to plan meticulously for the winding up to maximise the benefits for shareholders.   We set out below some statistics detailing the work we have done in the past 12 months and we would be pleased to discuss with you and or any of your clients any circumstances which you consider might merit a solvent winding up process. 

Number of appointments – 32

Amount of funds distributed – £38million

Number of shareholders – 71

Gareth Roberts                    07979 706 392 / [email protected]
Paul Ellison                          07967 471211 / [email protected]
Robert Keyes                       07500 933 022 / [email protected]
David Taylor                         07855 231 103 / [email protected]
Lee Lloyd                              0777 334 6057 / l[email protected]