The Squeeze on Business Owners Has Quietly Exploded
If you’re running a growing business in the UK right now, the government has made you a target, plain and simple.
Let’s look at where it hurts.
Employer NICs: Taxing You for Hiring
From April 2025, employer NICs go from 13.8% to 15%. Worse, the threshold falls to £5,000.
If you employ 20 people on average salaries, your payroll cost jumps by five figures for doing nothing except keeping staff employed.
You build jobs. You scale responsibly. You get punished.
CGT on Exit: The New Penalty for Building Value
Capital Gains Tax has quietly mutated into a cash grab:
· BADR relief is shrinking, currently at 14% and rising again next year.
· Standard CGT for higher-rate taxpayers is now 24%.
· The window for tax-efficient exits is closing.
Sell a £2.5 million company post-April 2026 and you're staring at a £440,000 tax bill just for the privilege of creating wealth.
The Inheritance Tax Ambush
This one came quietly.
100% Business Property Relief is now capped at £1 million per person. Anything over that? Only 50% relieved. The rest is exposed to 20%+ IHT.
Build a £2.5 million business? Your family could face a £300,000+ death tax on your life's work.
Why the Old Tools Don’t Work Anymore
Most business owners lean on the “big three”: pensions, trusts, and clever advisers. But let’s be honest, they don’t hold up anymore.
Pensions Are a Weak Shield
Yes, you can still shelter some income. But with frozen thresholds and looming pension IHT reforms, the long-term protection is paper-thin.
It’s not a fortress. It’s a tent.
Trusts Come with a Tax Receipt
Gifting into a discretionary trust over £325k? That’s a 20% upfront tax hit.
Hold it too long? You’re hit again with 6% every decade. And unless you bolt on layers of governance, control is diluted.
Trusts protect value. They don’t preserve income. Or legacy. Or access.
Meet James: £3m Turnover, £2.5m Valuation, and No Margin for Error
James runs a successful UK trading business. £3 million in revenue, £500k in pre-tax profit. Twenty employees. Five years of growth. And a plan to sell within five.
On paper, he’s doing everything right.
But the 2024 Budget turned that paper into a problem.
James’ Numbers, Post-Budget:
· £15,000 — New NIC burden
· £440,000 — Exit CGT if he sells in 2026
· £300,000 — IHT exposure due to the BPR cap
· £12,000+ — Lost to frozen thresholds over four years
· £0 — Protection from pensions or trusts alone
He’s at risk of losing over £750,000 in tax and that’s if nothing gets worse.
So, James did what most don’t: he acted before the system squeezed tighter.
The SAFO Blueprint: A Smarter Structure for Smarter Owners
James didn’t want a loophole. He wanted leverage. He wanted to build a system that defended value, preserved upside, and still let him sleep at night.
The Mural Crown Self-Administered Family Office (SAFO) gave him that edge.
Freezing the Estate Without Giving Up Control
James set up a bespoke Family Investment Company (FIC) with alphabet shares. He transferred 100% of his trading company shares into the FIC in exchange for £2.5m in fixed-value Equity Freezer Shares.
Because it was a share-for-share exchange under TCGA 1992 s135, no tax was triggered.
Then
· He gifted £1m of shares to his wife, accessing her BPR and BADR allowances.
· He retained the rest for planned redemptions during retirement.
Control stayed with him via Class A voting shares. Meanwhile, he issued Growth Shares into a family trust, moving all future upside outside his estate.
Redemptions at 14–18% Tax, Not 33.75%
Every time James and his wife redeem shares, it’s taxed as capital, not income.
That means
· First £2m gets hit at just 14% CGT (via BADR)
· The rest is taxed at 18–24%, still way below dividend tax
Their children, meanwhile, can draw tax-free income via their own alphabet shares using personal allowances and dividend bands.
Legacy Locked in with Growth Shares + Trusts
With Growth Shares in a discretionary trust:
· The family owns future value, not HMRC
· Control stays tight, but capital is accessible
· Succession becomes seamless, no courts, no chaos
If the business sells later? No corporation tax. Thanks to the Substantial Shareholding Exemption, the entire value stays inside the Mural Crown SAFO, ready for phased, tax-managed drawdown.
No CGT. No third parties. No scramble.
What Every Business Owner Should Do Now
If you're still operating under a standard company setup, you're playing defence with no goalie.
Here’s how to flip the script.
1. Run the Numbers
Speak to your accountant. Map your exposure:
· Employer NIC increases
· CGT under current and future rules
· IHT risk from the new BPR caps
If it’s six figures, don’t flinch. Move. Pick up the phone or send us an email.
2. Build Your FIC, Properly
Form a holding company with alphabet shares. Use a share-for-share exchange to freeze current value. Keep voting power. Shift growth elsewhere.
This isn’t paperwork. It’s ownership by design.
3. Activate Trust Planning. Early
Trusts only work when combined with structural intent. Push growth shares into trust now. Let compounding happen outside your estate, not inside.
And no, you don’t lose control if the structure is built right.
4. Time the Exit, and Use the Structure
If you’re planning to sell, make sure your SAFO qualifies for SSE. Then time the drawdown using a phased share redemption plan, not taxable dividends.
This is how you retire with capital and control.
Take Back Control Before the Next Budget Does
The Autumn Budget told you exactly what’s coming:
· More tax on your workforce
· Less relief on your exit
· Little left for your heirs
If you do nothing, the state takes more — and your family gets less. That’s not a forecast. That’s the deal on the table.
The Mural Crown SAFO is your way out.
You get
· Frozen estate value, immediately
· Income taxed at 14–18%, not 33.75%
· Growth held outside your estate, forever
· Control locked in by structure, not personality
You’re not dodging tax. You’re defeating inefficiency.
