Claiming Entrepreneurs’ Relief when selling your business
Entrepreneurs' Relief (ER) can be a valuable relief when selling your business, your shares in a trading company or your interest in a trading partnership. Where ER is available Capital Gains Tax (CGT) of 10% is payable in place of the standard rate. CGT on the disposal of chargeable assets is usually chargeable at 20%. There are a number of qualifying conditions that must be met in order to qualify for Entrepreneurs' Relief.
There is a lifetime limit that means that you can qualify for ER more than once, subject to an overriding total limit of £10m of qualifying capital gains. There are time limits that must be met to make a claim. To qualify for relief you should be either an officer or employee of the company and own at least 5% of the company and have at least 5% of the voting rights. There are also other qualifying conditions that must be met in order to qualify for the relief.
In a recent change, the minimum period during which certain conditions must be met in order to qualify for ER increased from one to two years (from 6 April 2019). If you are looking to sell your business, you need to be mindful of meeting all the necessary conditions in order to qualify for ER.
There is also a sister relief called Investor’s relief which has a separate £10 million lifetime cap. This is useful for investors who do not meet the officer or employee requirement for ER.
