Director’s Suite
Q&A with Whitehall
Q& A Q
I am 46 years old and want to retire at 50-55, I was going to simply close down the business is there any way I can sell it?
A
Yes of course. However depending on how your business is set up depends on what route to take. One man band There is a reason you can function as a one man band, usually your business will be based on you providing your knowledge. Which means it may be difficult to find someone who has the same knowledge base to continue trade. I would start by approaching contacts on both sides of your supply chain to see if they have considered starting a business to enhance their service. If you have no luck, contacting competitors to increase their client base would be the next port of call. However bear in mind that if your retirement is imminent they may just wait until your customers are left without a supplier. Family members are sometimes available to carry the torch but this is the last port of call as fetching the right price for your business is difficult to negotiate with family.
management performance bonuses which offer shares at today’s price but in 3 or 5 years time, once they are worth much more due to the performance of the company.
Q
10+ employees The world is your oyster! This means you need to find a platform that will advertise your business to the whole of the UK. Your first step should be to contact your accountant and establish a value, and then you should visit an agent to market your business. The fastest and easiest way to market your business would be via the internet, I advise clients to use Daltonsbusiness.com which is the online title for Daltons Weekly the UK’s Largest Business for sale marketplace with over 30,000 businesses and franchises for sale online. The site not only allows business transfer agents to list businesses on behalf of vendors but the owners can advertise privately at £119.95+VAT for two months with no agent commission/ fees payable upon completion of the sale. By advertising on Daltonsbusiness.com you will be reaching a Community of over 350,000 registered business buyers.
A
We are currently planning a staff do, can you confirm the rules on tax allowances please?
£150 including VAT per employee, this has to include their partners if they are invited too. If you go over £150 then the whole amount is disallowed in the tax calculation, so watch out for costs creeping up. If your cost is below £150 per employee, you receive the VAT element back and the net amount is allowable in the company accounts. If you’re generous and provide more than one annual event for employees, If the combined cost per head of the events is more than £150, then you can apply the exemption to whichever combination of events best ‘use up’ the £150 threshold. If you have any questions you feel we could help with, please email us on info@whitehallaccountants.co.uk with the subject header Q&A.
1-10 employees With this size business it is unlikely that you are directly involved in the day to day running of the business, but it’s still your knowledge that provides the direction of the business. From a sale point of view the Management Buy Out would be the first place to start, gear up 5 years in advance beginning to train your managers to become owners. Possibly set up a HMRC approved share scheme where you can set Whitehall business magazine I 9