Company tax planning on the cessation of trading

Many owner-managers have experienced a complete shut-down or significant downturn in their businesses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. If they were already approaching or contemplating their intended retirement I have seen that the Covid-19 disruption has accelerated these plans in many cases.

These decisions are made easily when faced with the future uncertainty and the prospect of significant losses. Some may have been fortunate to secure a ‘distressed sale’ of the business enabling it to continue in some form. In such cases the owner-manager will rarely have secured a significant payment for the business goodwill. However the real benefit would be to ensure the future employment of the workforce while avoiding redundancy and other closure costs.

On the other hand with perhaps the potential threat of insolvency looming some owner-managers have opted simply to cease...