A number of business reliefs are available and should be taken advantage if the relevant conditions apply:
This relief reduces the capital gains tax payable to 10% on up to £1million of qualifying gains made during a lifetime. Various conditions must be met and broadly BADR is available to individuals who are actively involved in a business, whether this is a personally owned business, or through a partnership or company.
This applied to disposals made after 6 April 2019. You can also enjoy the 10% rate of capital gains tax when investing an unquoted company which you do not work for. You will need to have subscribed for the shares after 16 March 2016 and hold them for at least 3 years. There are strict rules as to your involvement with the company which you hold the shares but gains of up to £10million can potentially qualify for this relief.
If you give a business asset or shares in your company to another individual, the gain can be held over, so you don’t need to pay capital gains tax at the point of the gift. Instead, the gain is deferred, and the recipient of the gift will pay capital gains tax on the gain realised when they dispose of the asset.
Incorporation relief
When you transfer your unincorporated business to a company, you would normally pay capital gains tax on the gain realised on any chargeable assets. If you receive shares in return for the transfer of assets, you can roll over the gain into the value of those shares. This defers the capital gains tax payable until you eventually dispose of those shares. Note that this relief is available to non-trading businesses as well as trading business, which will include property.
Seeking capital gains tax advice will help ensure that you are meeting your liabilities in the most tax efficient manner.
