Wills for business owners
Protect the business you’ve built.
If you own a company, shares in one, or a farm, a standard Will may not do the job. The right planning can help your business pass on smoothly and make full use of the tax reliefs available.
Business relief
How the tax relief works now
Business Relief and Agricultural Property Relief can reduce the Inheritance Tax on qualifying business and farming assets. The rules changed on 6 April 2026.
100% relief on the first £2.5 million
Qualifying business and agricultural property is relieved in full up to a combined £2.5 million per person.
50% relief above that
Value over £2.5 million gets 50% relief, so the effective tax rate on it is 20% rather than 40%.
Unused allowance can pass to a spouse
Any unused part of the £2.5 million allowance can be transferred to a surviving spouse or civil partner.
Shares on AIM and similar unlisted markets now get 50% relief rather than 100%. Whether an asset qualifies at all depends on strict rules, such as how long you’ve owned it and whether the business is mainly trading. We’ll work with your accountant to check.
In your Will
A Business Property Trust
Leaving everything to your spouse can mean your business relief isn’t put to best use. A Business Property Trust in your Will can hold qualifying business assets separately, so the relief is used on your death and the assets are managed by trustees you choose.
Your spouse and family can still benefit from the trust, and the trustees can decide how and when, as circumstances change.
Other things we’ll look at
- Who runs the business if you lose capacity, through a Lasting Power of Attorney. Some owners make a separate one just for business decisions.
- Your shareholder or partnership agreement, so your Will doesn’t clash with it.
- Cross-option agreements and insurance, so co-owners can buy your share and your family receives its value.
- Succession, so the right people inherit control as well as value.
Free first meeting
Is your business protected if something happens to you?
We’ll look at how your business is owned and make sure your Will passes it on the way you intend, using the tax reliefs available.
Landlords
If you own let property
Buy-to-let and other rental businesses generally don’t qualify for Business Relief, because HMRC treats them as investments rather than trading businesses. That’s true even if the properties are held in a company.
There are still sensible ways to plan, such as how the properties are owned and who inherits them. Read more about Inheritance Tax planning.
Working with your advisers
Business planning works best as a team. With your permission we’ll speak to your accountant, and where specialist tax advice is needed we work alongside trusted tax partners.
We don’t give tax advice ourselves, and the rules can change. We’ll make sure your Will is ready to make the most of them.
Talk to us about your business.
A no-obligation first meeting to look at your Will, your business and what would happen if you weren’t there.