Structured two years before the sale, the owner kept more than $1M that would have gone in tax

The situation

A Shopify brand that had grown fast and was starting to attract buyers. The founder had an accountant who lodged on time and said little else. Nobody had looked at how the business was held, who owned the shares, or what a sale would mean for tax.

What we did

We came in well before any offer was on the table. The first job was the structure: making sure the business sat where the small business CGT concessions could apply and that the ownership supported them. The second was time. Several of the concessions only work if the arrangements are in place long before a contract is signed, so the planning started two years out, not two weeks.

From there it was the ordinary New Wave cadence: monthly numbers, tax planned before each 30 June, and a clear picture of what the business would be worth to a buyer.

The result

When the business sold, the structure did its job. The owner kept more than $1M that would otherwise have been paid in tax on the exit, and walked away with a clean set of accounts a buyer could rely on.

The lesson: a sale is taxed on decisions made years earlier. If you think you might sell in the next five years, the planning starts now.

The services behind it

Business structuring, tax planning inside our business accountants package, a business valuation ahead of the sale, and ecommerce bookkeeping for the monthly numbers. More for online sellers on our ecommerce accountant page.