Business Asset Disposal Relief: what do you bank when you sell?

• Business Asset Disposal Relief charges 18% on all gains on qualifying assets disposed of from 6 April 2026. It was 14% between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026, and 10% on or before 5 April 2025.
• If your completion date falls in an earlier window, the older rate applies (gov.uk: Business Asset Disposal Relief, and HMRC rates and allowances, updated 13 April 2026).
• The relief is capped across your lifetime, not per disposal: £1,000,000 of gains for a disposal before 6 April 2027. That limit has applied to qualifying disposals on or after 11 March 2020 (gov.uk, HMRC Capital Gains Manual CG64125).
• Budget 2026 cuts it to £500,000 for qualifying disposals made on or after 6 April 2027, at the same 18% rate. Source: HMRC tax information and impact note, 29 October 2026.
• The cut is in the Finance Bill 2026: until Royal Assent it is announced policy, not law. Enter what you have already used.
• Gains above the relief are taxed here at 24%, the higher or additional rate taxpayer's rate. Budget 2026's rates table shows 18% and 24%, and the £3,000 annual exempt amount, unchanged for 2027 to 2028 (Budget 2026, Annex A: rates and allowances).
• A basic rate taxpayer pays 18% on the part of the gain inside their unused basic rate band. So this calculator overstates the tax for someone with little other income (gov.uk: work out your tax).
• The annual exempt amount is £3,000 for 2026/27, unchanged from 2025/26 and 2024/25. As HMRC directs, it is applied to the gains charged at the highest rate first. So it comes off the 24% slice before the 18% slice (HMRC rates and allowances).
• Qualifying for the relief on a share sale broadly requires three things, for at least two years to the date of disposal. You were an officer or employee of the company. It was a trading company or the holding company of a trading group.
• And you held at least 5% of the ordinary shares and voting rights. You were entitled to at least 5% of distributable profits and assets on winding up, or of the proceeds on a sale (gov.uk eligibility, HMRC CG63975, TCGA92/S169I).
• Sole traders and partners qualify on a different two-year test. The toggle takes your word for it; HMRC will not.
• Fees are treated as incidental costs of disposal: they reduce the chargeable gain and the cash you keep. Base cost is what you paid for the shares, which for founders' shares subscribed at par is usually negligible.
• Founders' Relief is computed on the consultation draft, which closes at 11:59pm on 30 November 2026 (HM Treasury technical consultation). The draft charges 10% on qualifying share disposals from 6 April 2027, up to a lifetime limit of £10 million (HMRC tax information and impact note).
• Any Business Asset Disposal Relief or Investors' Relief claimed from 6 April 2027 reduces that limit (Annex A). This calculator assumes none has been claimed, taxes any gain above £10 million at 24%, and applies the relief only when you answer Yes. The conditions can change before the Finance Bill 2026/27 is passed.
• An Employee Ownership Trust sale: from 26 November 2025, 50% of the gain on a qualifying disposal to the trustees is chargeable. The other 50% is held over to the trust. Business Asset Disposal Relief and Investors' Relief are not available on it (HMRC tax information and impact note, helpsheet HS277).
• The chargeable half is taxed here at 24% after the annual exempt amount. The Founders' Relief consultation draft does not say whether that relief can apply to a sale to a trust, so this calculator never applies it there.
• Which date counts. Under a contract the disposal happens when the contract is made, not when the shares are transferred. Under a conditional contract it happens when the condition is satisfied (Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, section 28).
• Budget 2026 adds anti-forestalling rules for unconditional contracts entered into before 6 April 2027 and completed on or after it. The £500,000 limit applies unless the parties show they did not contract for the timing rule's tax advantage.
• Connected parties must show the contract was wholly commercial. A statement is needed where the gain exceeds £100,000 (HMRC). The calculator's completion date stands for the date of disposal under those rules.
• Not modelled, and each can move the answer materially: earn-outs and deferred consideration, share-for-share exchanges and loan notes, EMI and other option exercises, and capital losses brought forward.
• Nor are Investors' Relief, disposals by trustees or personal representatives, multiple shareholders with different holdings, or anyone not resident in the UK for tax. Take advice before relying on a figure from any calculator, including this one.

Exit Value Calculator is an information site. It is not affiliated with HMRC or any government body, and nothing here is tax, accounting or legal advice. Rates and thresholds are stated as at the updated date above and are corrected in place when HMRC changes them; confirm your own position with a tax adviser before completing a sale.

1. The Business Asset Disposal Relief rate in 2026/27
2. Capital Gains Tax when you sell a business (2026/27)
3. The BADR two-year rule and the 5% test
4. Founders' Relief: the 10% rate from April 2027 and who qualifies
5. Can you complete your sale before 6 April 2027? A checklist