Selling a business · Sale-Ready Check
The free Sale-Ready Check shows what a buyer's side will raise first about a business, from its filings to who holds its web address, email and logins, and who fixes each item. It takes about a minute, from public records. Complete after 5 April 2027 and a seller with lifetime gains over £500,000 could pay up to £30,000 more tax.
To talk it through, ring Mal Murphy on 07830 879318, weekdays, 9am to 5pm.
A precision engineering business in West Yorkshireexample.co.uk
Two items could hold up completion, one a buyer will ask about, one is worth fixing before the sale, and one is a note for the file.
Free check, then the review where it's needed£2,500
The deadline
The Business Asset Disposal Relief lifetime limit falls from £1 million to £500,000 for qualifying disposals made on or after 6 April 2027; the legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2026. HMRC expects about 13,000 of roughly 51,000 claimants to be affected.1
Not every seller pays more. For a seller whose lifetime qualifying gains, earlier claims included, go above £500,000, completing after 5 April could mean up to £30,000 more tax: 6 percentage points on as much as £500,000 that no longer qualifies, 18% against 24%.
Normally the disposal date for Capital Gains Tax is exchange, not completion (TCGA 1992 s.28). HMRC's policy paper adds rules for “forestalling arrangements entered into in respect of unconditional but uncompleted contracts before 6 April 2027”: their gains “will be subject to the £500,000 lifetime cap unless” the parties “can demonstrate that they did not enter into the contract with a purpose of obtaining a tax advantage by reason of the timing rule in section 28 of the TCGA 1992” or, where they are connected, “that the contract was entered into for wholly commercial reasons”. So exchanging before 6 April does not by itself keep the £1 million limit for a sale that completes after it; completing by 5 April 2027 does.1
| Sale completed by 5 April 2027 | Completed on or after 6 April 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Lifetime limit | £1 million | £500,000 |
| Rate within the limit | 18% | 18% |
| Rate above it | 24% | 24% |
| Extra tax, at most | Nothing | £30,000 |
For Capital Gains Tax a sale is normally made at exchange, but a contract exchanged before 6 April 2027 that completes on or after it gets the £500,000 limit, unless the parties can show it wasn't timed for the tax.
HMRC, 29 October 2026, with the rates in force from 6 April 2026.1
What a buyer checks first
A buyer's solicitor sends a due diligence questionnaire once heads of terms are agreed. These items are quoted from published lists. Most sale checklists stop at the accounts and the registers. The last three here are about the web address, the email and the logins.
The registers “are among the first documents they will ask for”, and “deals get delayed while rectification work is carried out”.5
A company “will be unable to file its confirmation statement unless all its directors are verified”.2 A legal charge “will need to be paid off on completion”, then the MR04 filed.6
“Please provide details of all domain names of which the Company is the applicant or registrant, including copies of documents confirming application or registration.”7 “Confirmation that all such intellectual property is owned by the Company.”8
Whether the Company “is dependent on any third party for the maintenance of any element of the Computer System”.7
“Establish who holds domain, tenant and root credentials, and how you will secure them at completion.”3
The check
Each item on a client's page says why the buyer asks, what the records show, how to check it yourself, who fixes it and what fixing it involves. It uses public records only: nothing is logged in to, nothing is installed, and you never have to name a client to us.
The register
Companies House, looked up live
Who holds the keys
The web address's public records, and the website as any visitor sees it
The clocks
Counted back from Monday 5 April 2027: the FCA's in working days, the others in calendar days
Who fixes what
The accounts and company secretarial items go to the accountant, the legal items to the seller's solicitor, the email lock-down to the IT provider, and the domain and the logins are what we sort out with the owner in the review. Regulator deadlines, where they apply, start now.
Your accountant
The seller's solicitor
Bondstone, in the review
Your IT provider
Regulator deadlines
The review
What the business gets: the review prepared from the public record before the call; one call on a shared screen, where the owner logs in to their own accounts while we record who holds each key, in whose name and with what recovery details; the handover report for the data room; and, where a key sits with a former supplier or employee, its recovery started with the owner. We never take passwords.
Who it is for
Run it on every client who is selling: every item names who fixes it, and whatever it finds in the filings and registers is work your practice already does.
For accountancy practicesOn a sale already under way: the buyer's IT and records enquiries answered with evidence, and the legal fixes left with you.
For solicitorsA free check on your next five listings, and a page for each business in the buyer's data room.
For business brokersCheck your own business free, see your dates, and put the keys in the company's name before the buyer asks.
If you are sellingWhat we keep
About a minute for one business. A practice's long list can take up to 20 minutes, because Companies House answers a set number of look-ups at a time; the page says when it is still checking.
No. HMRC expects about 13,000 of roughly 51,000 claimants to be affected. A seller whose lifetime qualifying gains, earlier claims included, go above £500,000 could pay up to £30,000 more by completing on or after 6 April 2027. The seller's accountant can say whether that is them.
No. The check uses what Companies House publishes and what the web address and the website show any visitor. In the review the owner logs in to their own accounts on a shared screen, and we never take passwords.
£2,500 for one business, paid by the business, or included by its accountant in the accountant's own engagement. The fixes have fixed prices of their own: the email lock-down £295, the emergency clean-up £495.
A run keeps none of them. Its results stay on screen for 30 minutes and aren't stored, and we keep only how many checks were run. A client page is made only when it is forwarded, or when a business runs the check itself, and it keeps that business's name, number and report for 120 days.
A data intelligence and cyber security firm. Bondstone Global, registered in Australia (ABN 46 950 504 862). UK office: Hollywell House, Hollywell Lane, Leeds LS12 3HP. Correspondence about a review comes from [email protected].
Every figure on this page is from the source beside it, with its date. Where we give a date to start by, it is counted back from Monday 5 April 2027: the FCA's in UK working days, the others in calendar days.
From public records, in about a minute, with who fixes each item and the latest safe dates.