Exit planning is rarely urgent – until it is. Many business owners assume they have time to prepare, yet the businesses that achieve the strongest outcomes are those that start thinking about exit readiness long before a transaction is on the immediate horizon.
Whether a sale is two years away or five, the groundwork laid today can have a material impact of value, speed and certainty when the time comes.
Why exit readiness matters
Tax due diligence is one of the most scrutinised elements of any transaction. Buyers and their advisors will closely examine a target’s tax history, compliance position and structural exposures.
Identifying and addressing issues early, rather than during a live deal, can:
- Protect value
- Reduce price adjustments
- Maintain control of the process
- Build buyer confidence.
A Tax Exit Readiness review is designed to achieve exactly this. It allows management to proactively assess their position across all relevant taxes, identifying:
- What is already well-managed
- Where risks lie
- Where further preparation is required
The review result is a clear, prioritised action plan, enabling businesses to resolve issues ahead of a transaction and approach the process with confidence.
Consider the structure of your exit
How you sell is just as important as what you sell. The structure of a transaction, whether a share sale, asset sale, part disposal or staged exit, can have a significant impact on the tax outcome for both the business and its shareholders.
Equally important are the shareholder’s plans post-exit. How proceeds are received, and what happens to them afterwards, can be just as significant as the transaction itself.
For those focussed on preserving and transferring wealth, early personal tax planning can make a meaningful difference to long-term outcomes.
What we are seeing
From our experience, we understand where the pressure points tend to arise in a sale process. Examples include:
- Historical compliance gaps – irregularities, missed filings or undocumented decisions that appear manageable in isolation but raise red flags under scrutiny.
- R&D and other reliefs claims – positions lacking robust documentation, leaving them vulnerable to challenge.
- Share scheme arrangements – incomplete records around valuation, elections and supporting documentation.
- Group or holding structures– arrangements that are not optimised for sale or create unexpected tax leakage.
The few examples above are not unusual, but they are significantly easier and most cost-effective to address with time on your side, rather than under the pressure of a live deal.
Why HaysMac?
Our tax team brings together transaction experience and technical expertise across the taxes that touch a deal.
We work with a range of businesses and their shareholders across different structures throughout the full joinery – from an initial health check and readiness review, through to structuring advice, personal tax planning and full transaction support.
We understand what buyers look for, where issues tend to arise and how to help clients stay ahead of them.
If you are beginning to think about an exit, whether near term or further down the line, now is the right time to start the conversation. Get in touch with Lucy Tobutt-Denny, Senior Tax Manager, to find out more.
