What should business owners do before the Budget on 28 October 2026?

The Chancellor, John Healey, delivers the Budget on Wednesday 28 October 2026. Until he stands up, every claim about what it contains is a report, a leak or a guess. This checklist separates what the law says today, checked on GOV.UK, from what has been reported, with the source named each time, so you can plan without betting on rumours. Smart Funding Solutions is a broker, not a lender. We compare options across 300+ lenders and arrange business finance from £10,000 to £20 million. For the wider picture, see our earlier report on what the Autumn Budget could mean for business finance.

01Is anything in the Budget confirmed yet?

The date is. HM Treasury confirmed 28 October 2026 in the Chancellor’s letter to the Treasury Select Committee. Some measures have also been announced ahead of the day, such as the government’s £800 million plan to cut red tape and import tariffs, published on 23 October. The tax changes business owners are most worried about have not been announced. Treat everything marked as reported below as speculation until the Budget documents are published on GOV.UK.

02Will Business Asset Disposal Relief be cut in the Budget?

Nobody outside the Treasury knows. Here is where the relief stands today, according to GOV.UK.

• The rate. Business Asset Disposal Relief taxes qualifying gains at 18% on disposals from 6 April 2026. It was 14% between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026, and 10% before that.
• The limit. You can claim a total of £1 million of relief over your lifetime, according to HMRC’s guidance on claiming.
• Who qualifies. When selling shares, you normally need to have been an employee or office holder of a trading company and to have held at least 5% of its shares and voting rights for at least two years. Sole traders and partners need to have owned the business for at least two years.
• Without the relief. Gains that fall above the basic rate band are taxed at 24% from 6 April 2026, according to the Capital Gains Tax rates page.

What has been reported is a possibility, not a proposal. Money to the Masses, in its Budget predictions updated on 22 October, lists a further cut to the relief as a rumour, rates it unlikely and notes that the relief has already been squeezed twice in recent Budgets. Writing in WealthBriefing in September, lawyers at Charles Russell Speechlys set out options the government could take, such as removing the lower rate so qualifying gains are taxed at 24%, or reducing the £1 million limit. Neither has been announced.

If you are part way through selling a business or your shares, speak to your accountant or tax adviser about timing before 28 October rather than rushing a deal on a rumour. If the buyer needs funding to complete, our pages on management buyout finance, shareholder buyout finance and acquisition finance explain how these deals are usually funded.

03Is the small business rate relief threshold going up to £18,000?

It has been reported, not announced. Here are today’s rules, from GOV.UK’s small business rate relief guidance.

• You get 100% relief if your property has a rateable value of £12,000 or less and it is the only property your business uses.
• Between £12,001 and £15,000, the relief goes down gradually from 100% to 0%.
• Your property must have a rateable value of less than £15,000 to get any of this relief.

LBC reported on 18 October that the Chancellor is expected to raise the point at which businesses start paying business rates from £12,000 to £18,000. Money to the Masses, citing the Sunday Times, reports the same figures and says the change could take around 75,000 properties out of business rates altogether, rolling out in England first. In September, London Loves Business, citing the Telegraph, described raising the threshold as one option under consideration and noted the £12,000 figure has not changed since 2017. None of this is confirmed.

If your premises has a rateable value between £12,000 and £18,000, you are the business most likely to notice a change. Check your figure on the find a business rates valuation service, and keep paying your current bill until any change is confirmed and takes effect. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own rates relief schemes. Retailers and hospitality businesses can read more on our retail business loans and hospitality business loans pages.

04What if I can’t pay my HMRC tax bill?

Whatever the Budget says, the bills already due still need paying, and HMRC is owed a great deal. The National Audit Office reported on 23 October that 8.2 million taxpayers owed HMRC £43.8 billion at the end of 2025-26. Our report on what the NAO found about HMRC tax debt covers the detail. There are two main routes if a bill is too big to pay at once.

• An HMRC payment plan, often called Time to Pay. GOV.UK says you may be able to pay in instalments if you cannot pay in full, and HMRC checks that the plan is affordable. For company tax debts, HMRC expects you to reduce the debt as much as possible first, and it may ask directors whether they can put in their own money or raise funding. The NAO notes that plans cannot be set up online for Corporation Tax.
• Funding the bill. A tax loan pays HMRC on time and you repay the lender over an agreed number of months. See VAT loans, Corporation Tax loans, PAYE loans and income tax loans, or our HMRC tax loans hub.

Our guide to Time to Pay versus a tax loan compares the cost, speed and paperwork of each. Do not leave it until HMRC writes to you. The NAO found HMRC was awarded 2,277 winding-up petitions in 2025-26, up 185% since 2022-23.

05Your pre-Budget checklist

06What does the Budget mean for your funding?

The Budget does not set interest rates, and it does not change how lenders assess an application. It can change the figures they look at, such as your tax bills, your business rates and what you take home from a sale. That is why the businesses that come through a Budget best are the ones that know their numbers before it. You can compare working capital loans and a revolving credit facility for recurring tax peaks, and read our case studies for funding we have arranged.

You do not need to wait for 28 October to find out what lenders could offer. Get your Instant Quotes to see your lender matches instantly, with no credit check, then a broker searches the wider market for you. Lenders make every decision, and all finance is subject to status.