Build carefully. Work hard. Take risks. Back yourself. Invest in something real. The idea was that if you put in the years and made sound decisions, the outcome would reflect that. It was not a guarantee, business never is, but the system, broadly, was on your side.

Estate planners and wealth advisers are calling the new Capital Gains Tax changes for what they believe they are: death taxes. And when you look at what is being proposed, it is not difficult to understand the frustration behind that label.

The 50% Capital Gains Tax discount that has protected business owners since 1999 is being removed. The 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts, the structures that thousands of family businesses are built around, is coming in 2028. The rules that many business owners planned their entire exits around are changing, and changing significantly.

I am not here to argue about who is right or wrong. I am here to tell you what I know after twenty-five years in business valuation. And what I know is this: when the rules change, the people who come through it well are the ones who acted before the change arrived, not after.

The business owners I have watched navigate difficult transitions: sales, succession, estate planning, are the ones who had their affairs in order before they needed them to be. Not the ones who scrambled when the moment came. Scrambling is expensive. It is also, almost always, avoidable.

Right now there is still time. If you have been considering a sale in the next few years, these changes may have already made that decision for you, selling before 1 July 2027 takes the new rules off the table entirely. The changes take effect from 1 July 2027. The transitional provisions mean that any gain you built in your business before that date can still be assessed under the current, more generous rules. But only if you can demonstrate what your business was worth at that point.

A formal, independent valuation prepared as at 1 July 2027, does exactly that. It is evidence. It is protection. It is the documented record that what you built, you built under the rules that were in place when you built it.

Whether you agree with these changes or not, they are coming. The only question worth asking now is whether you will be ready when they arrive.

Look after yourself. Know the value of what you have built.

Start with a conversation or call us at 1300 551 757

Kevin Lovewell
B.Bus (Accy) MBA FAIBB (RBV) MIPA AFA JP Qual
Director Business Broker Registered Business Valuer Licenced Real Estate Agent
Member of the Institute of Public Accountants
Member of the Australian Institute of Business Brokers (AIBB)