Business Asset Disposal Relief, formerly Entrepreneurs' Relief, is about to get more expensive. The rate is rising from 10% to 14% in April 2026. That's not speculation. It's in the Autumn Budget. And for any business owner who's been thinking about selling in the next few years, the maths just changed.
I should be clear: this isn't a tax advice piece. I'm not an accountant and I'm not pretending to be one. What I am is someone who works with a business brokerage that specialises in accountancy practice sales, and I've watched the conversations shift dramatically since the Budget announcement. Owners who were vaguely "thinking about it in a couple of years" are now actively asking: should I move sooner?
For the uninitiated, BADR is the relief that reduces the Capital Gains Tax rate on qualifying business disposals. If you sell your business and qualify for the relief, you pay a reduced rate on the first £1 million of lifetime gains.
At 10%, selling a business for a £1 million gain means £100,000 in tax. At 14% (from April 2026), the same sale costs £140,000. That's an extra £40,000 for the same transaction, completed six months later. And the Chancellor has made it clear the direction of travel is upward, not downward. There's already speculation about a further increase to 18% or even alignment with standard CGT rates in future Budgets.
For a business owner in their late fifties or sixties, the difference between selling at 10% and potentially selling at 18% or higher in three years is the cost of a house deposit. It's not a rounding error.
Selling a business isn't like selling a car. You don't decide on Monday and complete on Friday. For most SMEs, the process from "I've decided to sell" to "the money is in my account" takes twelve to eighteen months. Sometimes longer.
That timeline includes preparation (getting the financials in order, resolving any legal loose ends, preparing the business to operate without you), marketing (finding the right buyers, not just any buyers), negotiation (due diligence, price discussions, deal structure), and completion (contracts, handover, and the actual transfer).
If it's September 2025 right now and the 10% rate ends in April 2026, the window for completing a sale at the current rate is already closing for anyone who hasn't started the process. And that's assuming everything goes smoothly, which it rarely does. One delayed bit of due diligence, one buyer who gets cold feet, one financing hiccup, and your completion date slides past the April deadline.
The business owners who are serious about selling at 10% needed to start this process three to six months ago. If you're reading this and the idea has been in the back of your mind, the honest answer is: it's tight but not impossible, depending on the nature of your business and how prepared you are.
This might seem like a strange angle for a marketing article, but bear with me.
We work with an accountancy practice broker who helps sellers prepare their businesses for market. One of the most consistent patterns we've seen is that businesses with strong marketing infrastructure sell for higher multiples than businesses without it.
A buyer looking at two similar accountancy practices, same revenue, same client count, same margins, will pay more for the one with a functioning website, a client communication system, a prospect pipeline, and marketing materials that don't look like they were designed in Microsoft Publisher in 2008. The marketing infrastructure signals professionalism, scalability, and reduced key-person risk.
For that brokerage, we built a database of over 10,000 potential buyers by mining Companies House data, identifying accountancy firms of the right size and stage, and building targeted outreach campaigns. That database means their clients' practices get in front of qualified buyers faster, which is exactly what matters when the clock is ticking.
BADR is one piece of a larger shift. The past two years have seen a steady tightening of tax reliefs for business owners. Dividend allowance halved. Annual exempt amount for CGT reduced. Corporation tax rose to 25%. The environment for business ownership is becoming less generous, and the owners who pay attention to these changes make better decisions than those who don't.
For marketing, this creates both an immediate opportunity and a longer-term one. Immediately, business brokers, accountancy firms, financial advisers, and wealth managers all have a reason to be talking to business owners right now. The BADR change is a natural conversation starter, and the businesses that get their messaging out first will capture the attention of owners who are just waking up to the implications.
Longer term, the trend toward earlier exits means more businesses coming to market, which means more competition among sellers, which means presentation and preparation matter more than ever. A business that invests in its marketing, its systems, and its data before going to market will stand out from the rush of unprepared sellers trying to beat the next tax deadline.
If you're a business owner thinking about selling, start the preparation now, regardless of whether you plan to sell before or after April 2026. Get your financials clean. Get your marketing updated. Get your systems documented. The businesses that fetch the best prices are the ones that look like they run without the owner, and that takes time to establish.
If you're a firm that advises business owners, whether that's accountancy, legal, wealth management, or brokerage, this is a moment to be helpful. Not in a "buy our services" way, but in a "here's what you need to know" way. The business owners making these decisions right now are looking for guidance, and the firms that provide it earn the relationship.
Either way, the clock is ticking. And the maths only goes in one direction.
Martin Dugan, AA2
