The money that was theoretical for years is suddenly real, sitting in an account that has never held more than payroll. Within a fortnight the calls start: wealth managers, founder friends with rounds open, a cousin with a property deal. Every one of them has a plan for your proceeds. You don't need a plan yet. You need a map.
This is that map. What the sale itself triggered in tax, the reliefs that exist if some of the money goes back into early-stage companies, the structures people weigh up, and the one discipline that matters before any of it. Options and trade-offs, not a programme.
The wire clears in seconds. Nothing else after an exit needs to happen at that speed.
The moment after the wire lands
The strongest instinct after a sale is to keep moving. You've spent months in deal mode: diligence calls, disclosure schedules, a completion that slipped twice. That momentum doesn't switch off because the money arrived, and the people now calling you are happy to keep it running.
Resist it for a moment, because the first decision isn't which asset to hold. It's pace. The tax reliefs that matter to a seller run on windows measured in years, not weeks: EIS deferral, the most relevant one, stays open for three years after the gain. Nothing on the tax side rewards speed.
What speed does reliably produce is a first-year portfolio built from whatever happened to cross your desk while you were still in deal mode. Ask anyone who exited five years ago which of their cheques they'd take back. The answer is usually the early, fast ones.
The tax bill the sale already triggered
Before any redeployment, settle what the sale itself costs. If you qualified for Business Asset Disposal Relief (broadly: a 5%+ stake, officer or employee status, and two qualifying years in a trading company), your gain is taxed at 18% up to a £1,000,000 lifetime limit. That rate has risen two years running, from 10% to 14% and now 18% from 6 April 2026; the move and what it changed is covered in the BADR piece.
Above the lifetime limit, or if you didn't qualify, the gain falls into standard capital gains tax: 18% within your unused basic-rate band, 24% above it. Gains stack on top of income, so most of a meaningful sale gain lands at 24%. The annual exempt amount is £3,000, which against an exit is a rounding error.
The full set of levers around a business-sale gain, and what each costs in risk or constraint, gets its own treatment in the 2026 CGT round-up.
The reliefs if some of it goes early-stage
If part of the proceeds heads into early-stage companies, two reliefs sit on the route. The first is EIS deferral: reinvest the gain (the gain, not the whole proceeds) into EIS shares within the window from one year before to three years after the sale, and the CGT on it is postponed. Postponed, not cancelled. The deferred gain comes back into charge when the EIS shares are disposed of, at whatever rates apply then. The seller's-side walkthrough is in the EIS deferral piece, and HMRC's own guidance is at GOV.UK.
The second is SEIS reinvestment relief, which is smaller but sharper: 50% of a reinvested gain is exempt outright, on up to £100,000 of gains per tax year. SEIS also carries 50% income tax relief on up to £200,000 invested per year, against EIS's 30% on up to £1,000,000.
Two caveats carry more weight than the percentages. Both schemes are for individuals only; a limited company cannot claim them. And relief follows risk: these are the companies most likely to go to zero, and no relief turns a bad investment into a good one.
The structures people consider
Somewhere in the first six months, most sellers have the structure conversation: keep investing personally, or set something corporate around it? The facts that decide it are fewer than the meetings suggest. The angel reliefs are individuals-only, and a personal investment company is normally a close investment-holding company, which pays corporation tax at the 25% main rate on all its profits regardless of size, with another layer of tax when you take money out. The full comparison is in personally vs through a limited company.
Family investment companies come up in the same conversations. A FIC is a company whose share classes are arranged so that the founding generation keeps control while value builds up for the family, and people use them for estate planning rather than for tax relief on early-stage deals. They are specialist territory, set up with professional advice or not at all.
None of this says a structure is wrong for you. It says the default, for the reliefs a seller is most likely to use, is personal, and the burden of proof sits on anything more elaborate.
Pace, and a note on what this isn't
The pattern among new angels is consistent enough to state as a position: most deploy too fast. The first year after an exit is when your judgement about early-stage companies is least trained and your capital most liquid, which is a bad combination to act on. Deal flow improves as your name gets around. Your filter improves with every pitch you sit through. Cash, meanwhile, is a position too, and holding it while you learn costs nothing but patience.
And the note this page carries by design: it is a map, not a plan, and emphatically not financial advice. Every figure here, from the BADR rate to the SEIS limits, can move at a Budget, and which reliefs you can actually use depends on facts about your sale and your tax position that no article can know. Confirm the current rules at GOV.UK and take FCA-regulated advice before committing capital. The expensive mistakes after an exit are rarely about missing an option. They're about moving before the map was read.
Frequently asked questions
How much CGT do I pay when I sell my business?
If you qualify for Business Asset Disposal Relief (broadly a 5%+ stake, officer or employee status and a two-year qualifying period in a trading company), gains are taxed at 18% up to a £1,000,000 lifetime limit. Above that limit, or without BADR, standard capital gains tax applies: 18% within your unused basic-rate band and 24% above it, with a £3,000 annual exempt amount. Rates change at Budgets, so confirm the current figures at GOV.UK.
Can I defer CGT by reinvesting in EIS?
Yes. EIS deferral relief lets you postpone the CGT on a gain, including one from selling a business, by reinvesting the gain into EIS shares in the window from one year before to three years after the gain arose. It is a deferral, not an exemption: the gain comes back into charge when the EIS shares are disposed of, at the rates in force at that point.
Should I invest through a company after selling?
That depends on your circumstances, but the deciding facts are these: SEIS and EIS relief are available to individuals only, so a limited company cannot claim them, and a personal investment company is normally a close investment-holding company paying corporation tax at the 25% main rate on all profits, with further tax when money is extracted. Companies still appear for estate planning and non-EIS assets. Take regulated advice before setting anything up.
How fast should I redeploy after an exit?
There is no prescribed timeline, and the tax windows are generous: EIS deferral stays open for three years after the gain. What the record shows is a discipline gap. New angels tend to deploy fastest in the year their judgement is least developed, and the early, hurried cheques are the ones most often regretted. Holding cash while you learn the market is itself a decision, and a legitimate one.
Is this page financial advice?
No. It is general information about the rules and options a UK seller may meet, not a recommendation of any scheme, structure or course of action. Reliefs depend on your personal tax position and the facts of your sale, and the rules change at Budgets. Confirm the current position at GOV.UK and take FCA-regulated advice before acting.