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Exiting Your Business: What the Budget Changes Mean for You
EO QUEENSLAND | PARTNER INSIGHTS
Inside EO Queensland • With John Rees, Fitzpatricks Advice Partners
You have spent years building a business, backing your team and making decisions that carry real consequences. But when it is time to step away, how much of that hard-earned value will support the life you want next?
For an entrepreneur, the sale price is only part of the answer. What you keep after the sale, how smoothly you can step away and what comes next for your family all matter too.
The next stage starts before you are ready to leave
For an EO member, the business journey rarely stands still. The challenge of getting established becomes the challenge of growing a team, building leadership and creating a business that can operate without you at the centre of every decision.
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Eventually, another question comes into view: what am I building towards?
An exit might mean selling, handing over to family or gradually stepping back. It might be years away. Yet the work that gives you choices later often starts while you are still focused on growth.
The Budget adds another reason to look ahead. The important question is how the changes affect your own plans, rather than how dramatic the headlines sound.
Some tax breaks may now reach more business owners
One Budget announcement could be relevant if your business has grown beyond $2 million in annual turnover. From 1 July 2027, the government has announced that a tax break known as the 50% active asset reduction will extend to businesses with turnover below $10 million, subject to the rules.
In plain English, this tax break can halve the gain counted for tax when an eligible business asset is sold. It does not mean half the sale price is automatically tax-free, or that every business qualifies.
ABOUT THE PARTNER
John Rees
Fitzpatricks Advice Partners
Fitzpatricks Advice Partners is an EO Queensland Strategic Alliance Partner. Its approach brings financial planning together with the input of accountants, tax specialists and legal advisers, helping business owners consider their business and family finances together.
The higher turnover limit applies to this particular tax break. It does not automatically give you access to all the other small-business tax breaks.
That makes it worth asking your accountant a specific question: does this change what I could keep from selling my business? If your plans were based on advice received a few years ago, it may be time to revisit them.
The family trust changes are still taking shape
The government released revised draft legislation in September (proposed rules that had not yet become law when checked on 24 September 2026).
One proposed option would let a qualifying family trust avoid the new minimum tax by committing in advance to who receives its income and in what proportions. That could offer an alternative to changing the business’s ownership arrangements, but it would also mean giving up some flexibility over how income is shared.
The proposed 30% minimum tax on certain trusts has not been scrapped. What has changed is the range of options being considered for families and business owners.
The practical takeaway is to review your position before making a major change. A family trust that suits one owner may not suit another. Your family’s needs, who owns the business and when you hope to exit all belong in that conversation.
Focus on what the sale will make possible
The number on an offer is only the starting point. Some of that money may be needed to pay off business loans, cover the sale’s costs and meet your tax bill. You may also receive some of it later rather than all at once.
Before deciding what a good offer looks like, be clear about what you need the sale to do for you. Will it fund retirement, give you more time with family or help you start something new?
Your advisers can help you understand what is likely to be left, when you would receive it and whether it supports those plans. That is a more useful measure of success than the sale price alone.
Could the business run without you?
A buyer needs confidence that the business can keep working after you leave. That becomes harder if its success depends on your personal relationships, knowledge and daily involvement.
If the largest customers only deal with you, quoting depends on your memory or every difficult decision comes back to your desk, the business still relies heavily on its founder. That is worth addressing while you have time to change it.
Start with three practical checks:
- Customer relationships: who besides you knows the key accounts and can retain their confidence?
- Decision-making: which decisions could your leadership team make without waiting for you?
- Knowledge: what do you carry in your head that someone else would need to know?
Use your next period away from the business as a test. Record what still reaches you, why it does and what would need to change. Those interruptions can become a practical improvement list for your leadership team.
Agree on the life the exit is meant to fund
A sale can be financially attractive and still leave important questions unanswered. Do you want a clean departure or an ongoing role? Would you be happy to stay on for a while to help the new owner? Does your family expect you to retire, invest again or remain involved in the business?
Talk through those expectations before a buyer arrives. Include the income you need, the time you want back and any role family members hope to play.
Then test the plan against an unexpected absence. Who could make decisions? Who knows where the key information is? Would your family and team know what to do if you could no longer run the business?
Share those answers with your accountant, lawyer and financial adviser so they are all working towards the same goal. Make sure someone is bringing the advice together and following through on what needs to happen.
What does your next chapter need from today’s plan?
You do not need a buyer at the door to start. Start with a conversation about where you want to go, what has changed and what you need to put in place. Having the right professionals alongside you can help turn those questions into a plan.
EO Queensland members can explore a complimentary Discovery Session with Fitzpatricks Advice Partners to identify the questions that deserve attention and discuss how the team could help.
Fitzpatricks Advice Partners is an EO Queensland Strategic Alliance Partner. General information only; this article does not consider your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Obtain financial, tax and legal advice before acting. Information checked on 24 September 2026. Tax rules and proposals can change; check the latest position with your advisers. Some proposals have changed since the episode was recorded.