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Written for owners · No sales pitch

Notes on selling a business

What buyers actually look for, what moves your price, and what the Queensland market is doing. Every piece is written to be useful on its own, whether you are selling this year or in five.

General information only, not financial, legal or taxation advice. Last updated 8 October 2026.

Free confidential market appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and no charge before or after we meet. Licensed by the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, licence 4963575. Member, Australian Institute of Business Brokers.
Article cover: a timeline with a cut-off marked near its end Latest post

The ATO stops taking credit cards on 30 November. What that does to your cash, and what a buyer reads into it

After 30 November 2026 the tax office will not accept a credit card. Both sides of the argument, what it does to a business that paid its BAS on a card, and what a buyer's accountant sees.

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Everything on the blog

44 pieces, newest first. Each one answers a question an owner actually asked.

Article cover: stacked layers, three solid, one highlighted and one still only an outline · Selling a businessLaw, draft or promise. What is actually settled before you sellSix of this year's changes are settled, two are drafts and one is an election pledge. A plain ledger of what an owner can plan a sale around in October 2026, and what could still move.Article cover: a timeline with one date marked on it · Selling a businessEvery business gets a tax value on 1 July 2027, whether it is sold or notThe capital gains tax changes are law. Assets held on 30 June 2027 are treated as sold and bought back at market value, and that figure divides how a later sale is taxed. What it means for an owner.Article cover: a gate with a bar across the top and loose pieces inside it · Selling a businessThe non-compete bill now reaches into the sale contract. The clause to watchTreasury's draft bill bans more than employee non-competes. Your own restraint as a seller is left alone, but a promise between businesses not to recruit staff may not be. Both sides, and what to check.Article cover: a ledger with one line carrying more weight than the rest · Selling a businessThe card surcharge is gone. Where that cost went, and what it does to your earningsFrom 1 October 2026 a business cannot add a surcharge on eftpos, Visa or Mastercard. The RBA's case, the small business case, and how a buyer will read the year the surcharge stopped.Article cover: nine changes layered, three of them carrying weight · Selling a businessNine things that changed for business owners this year, and which ones move your pricePayday super, a permanent write-off, a 4.75 per cent wage decision, four rate rises and a draft non-compete ban. A plain list of what actually landed in 2026, and which items a buyer prices.Article cover: a timeline with the cost of money marked on it · Selling a businessThe cash rate is 4.60 per cent. What that does to what a buyer can payThe RBA has raised four times in 2026, the latest on 29 September. Rates do not change what your business earns, they change how much of it a buyer can borrow against, and that is a different problem with different answers.Article cover: a ledger with the wage line carrying more weight · Selling a businessAward wages rose 4.75 per cent. Here is what it did to your appraisalThe Annual Wage Review 2026 lifted award minimum wages by 4.75 per cent from 1 July. On a wage heavy business that is a direct hit to earnings, and it changes the number a buyer works from.Article cover: a stepped profit line with one tread cut away · Selling a businessThe instant asset write-off is permanent now. What that does to your add-backsThe $20,000 instant asset write-off was made permanent from 1 July 2026. It is good news for cash flow and it quietly makes your profit harder for a buyer to read.Article cover: a gate opening on one side and holding on the other · Selling a businessNon-competes are going. What that means for your saleThe Government has released draft legislation to ban non-compete clauses for workers below the high income threshold. The restraint you give a buyer is a different animal, and it is worth knowing which is which.Article cover: one point standing clear of a scattered field · Selling a businessWhat a buyer reads into your industry before they read your numbers14,153 companies entered insolvency for the first time in 2025-26, close to the year before. A buyer brings that context to your business before they open a single spreadsheet, and there is a way to answer it.Article cover: two paths from the same point, one narrowing · Selling a businessRestructure or sell, and how owners tell the difference too lateRestructuring fell from 19.8 per cent of first insolvency appointments in 2024-25 to 12.1 per cent in 2025-26, while court liquidations rose. Here is the honest test for which side of that line a business is on, and why the window closes quietly.Article cover: a settlement ledger with one line withheld · Selling a businessThe clearance certificate that holds up settlementSince 1 January 2025 the foreign resident capital gains withholding rate is 15 per cent and there is no property value threshold. If your sale includes the freehold, the certificate is on the critical path.Scale passing from one form to a smaller one · Selling a businessSelling to your employees, and why it usually falls overIt is the outcome many owners want: hand the business to the people who built it. Here is why it fails more often than it succeeds, and what has to be true for it to succeed.Article cover: entitlements moving from one employer to another · Selling a businessWhat happens to your staff entitlements when you sellWhich employee entitlements transfer to the buyer, which ones you pay out at settlement, and why the answer changes the price you actually receive. Written for an asset sale in Queensland.An unbroken line that stops, and everything after it uncertain · Selling a businessWhat happens to your business if you die before you sell it?Owners have a will and no plan for the business itself. Here is what actually happens, why the value falls so fast, and the small amount of work that prevents it.A business sitting inside nested containers · Selling a businessYour business is in a family trust. What is proposed for 2028A minimum 30 per cent tax on discretionary trusts is proposed from 1 July 2028 and is not yet law. What that means for a sale, and for what a buyer sees.A block of value with a liability drawn off the bottom of it · Selling a businessYou have an ATO payment plan. What does that do to your sale?The tax office is pursuing more than $50 billion in collectable debt and has hardened its approach. Here is what an arrangement does to a business sale, and what it does not.Article cover: a record of customer data, and the gate in front of it · Selling a businessWhy a buyer now asks about your customer dataData breach notifications hit an all time high in 2025. Here is what that changed about due diligence, and the three questions an owner should be able to answer before a buyer asks them.A sparse quarterly rhythm giving way to a dense fortnightly one · Selling a businessPayday Super has been live two months. What it is telling buyersInsolvency specialists said Payday Super would not create business failures, it would bring them forward. Two months in, here is what it exposes and what a buyer does with that.A loader and haul trucks working a major earthworks site · Selling a businessWill 2032 Games work make my business worth more?Queensland is delivering a $7.1 billion venue program for the Brisbane 2032 Games. Whether that lifts your sale price depends on something owners get wrong.Article cover: What normalised EBITDA is, and why buyers ask · Selling a businessWhat is normalised EBITDA and why do buyers keep asking for it?The number your business is actually priced on, in plain English. What gets added back, what gets struck out in due diligence, and how to build a real figure.Article cover: What is an earn-out? · Selling a businessWhat is an earn out and should I accept one?How earn outs work, why buyers ask for them, and the terms that decide whether you actually get paid. Plus when an earn out is the right answer.An excavator working a cut pad at last light · Earthmoving, transport and civilHow do you value a business with a lot of plant and equipment?Why asset heavy businesses are priced differently, how goodwill and plant are separated, and the mistakes that cost operators money at settlement.Article cover: The value that is not on your balance sheet · Selling a businessThe value you built but never put on the balance sheetYour brand, systems, data, contracts and team are the part a buyer cannot see on a balance sheet. Here is what buyers actually pay for, and what gets given away.Article cover: Tax when you sell a business in Australia · Selling a businessWhat tax do I pay when I sell my business in Australia?How capital gains tax, the small business concessions and GST going concern treatment apply when a business is sold. General information only, not advice.Article cover: Sell now, or wait? · Selling a businessShould I sell my business now or wait?How to think about timing without guessing. The four things that actually decide whether waiting pays, and the situations where waiting quietly costs you money.A container terminal packed with stock waiting to move, seen from the air · Selling a businessIs now a good time to sell a business in Queensland?What is actually happening in the Queensland market, who is buying, and the honest answer to whether conditions or preparation matter more to your result.Article cover: How much is my business worth? · Selling a businessWhat is my business worth if it makes $500,000 a year?The honest answer to the question owners ask most. What a business earning $500,000 tends to sell for, and what decides where you land in the range.Article cover: Can I sell my business confidentially? · Selling a businessCan I sell my business without anyone finding out?How confidential business sales work in practice. Blind marketing, buyer vetting, staged information release, and where confidentiality breaks down.Article cover: Selling a business that is not profitable · Selling a businessCan I sell a business that is not making a profit?Unprofitable businesses do sell, but to different buyers on different terms. What the price is based on, and three things to do before you go to market.Article cover: FY26 financials, and what a buyer sees · Selling a businessYour FY26 numbers: what a buyer seesFY26 has closed and your accountant is finalising the file. Those numbers become the year buyers judge you on. Here is how they read them, and what to fix.Article cover: Why deals fall over · Selling a businessWhy business sales fall over after the handshakeDeals rarely die over price. They die in the weeks between agreement and settlement, when a buyer goes looking and finds something the seller never mentioned.Article cover: What buyers check first · Selling a businessThe eight numbers every buyer checks firstBuyers run the same ruler over every business, whatever the industry. Here are the eight numbers they start with, and why knowing them changes the negotiation.Article cover: What a business broker actually costs · Selling a businessWhat does a business broker actually cost?How broker fees work in Australia, what you get for them, and when selling privately genuinely makes more sense. A straight comparison with no sales pitch.Article cover: Telling your staff about a sale · Selling a businessShould you tell your staff you are selling?One of the first questions owners ask, and the one where getting it wrong does the most damage. Here is how confidentiality works during a business sale.Article cover: Preparing a Queensland business for sale · Selling a businessPreparing a Queensland business for saleStart six to eighteen months out. Clean financials, reduce owner dependence, sort your lease and plan for CGT. What preparing a Queensland business involves.An operator in a hard hat working alongside the machine · Selling a businessOwner dependence: the discount on your priceIf the business cannot run without you, a buyer is not purchasing an asset, they are applying for a job. Here is how buyers measure it and how to reduce it.Article cover: The mistakes that cost the most · Selling a businessSeven mistakes that cost owners money at saleOverpricing, thin records, lease problems, breaking confidentiality and leaving tax too late. The seven mistakes that most often cost owners money at sale.A furnished showroom trading from leased premises · Selling a businessYour lease could cost you the salePremises are a common reason a sale falls over, and one of the easiest to fix early. What buyers, banks and landlords each need from your lease.Article cover: How long does it take to sell a business? · Selling a businessHow long does it take to sell a business?Six to nine months from appraisal to settlement for a well prepared business, of which three to six is the market campaign and the contract. Here is where the months actually go.Article cover: The documents a buyer will ask for · Selling a businessWhat documents do you need to sell a business?Financials, leases, contracts, employee records, asset register and licences. The documents a buyer will ask for, and how to organise them before you start.Article cover: The capital gains changes landing in 2027 · Selling a businessCGT changes in 2027: what sellers should knowFrom 1 July 2027 the 50% CGT discount is replaced by cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax. The small business concessions stay. What that means for you.Stock held on racking in a distribution warehouse · Selling a businessWhich add backs survive due diligenceAdd backs show a buyer the true earnings of your business. The ones you can evidence lift your price. The ones you cannot get struck out, and it hurts.

Rather read a full guide?

The blog answers one question at a time. The seller guides go the whole way through a sector, with the Act, the regulator and the register named.

All nine seller guidesEarthmoving, transport, construction, mining services, e-commerce, window furnishings, toy and gift, turf, and workplace safety. What is my business worth?How a Queensland business is actually priced, line by line, with a worksheet you can run yourself. Where I workNine Queensland regions, each with its own business counts, precincts and council rules.

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Before you send this. Tony Pope, licensed Queensland business broker (ETP Consulting Pty Ltd as trustee for ETP Investments Trust, ABN 36 211 950 299, OFT licence 4963575) collects what you type here so I can answer you and, if you ask for one, prepare an appraisal. I do not sell or rent it. There is no newsletter, and the only list is the optional one you can tick below. Leaving it unticked is recorded as a no, not as a blank. Alongside what you type, this form records the IP address it came from, the browser and device you used, and the page or search that sent you here, so I can tell a real enquiry from an automated one. If you go on to sell, the law requires me to verify your identity and to keep those records for seven years. Some of what I hold is processed outside Australia: bookings through Calendly and website analytics through Google are handled in the United States, the automated check that tells a person from a robot on this form is run by Cloudflare in the United States, if you use the chat assistant your conversation is processed by Anthropic in the United States, and the email this form sends is processed by Resend in Japan. The record itself is stored in Australia. You do not have to give me any of this, but without a name and a way to reach you I cannot reply. The privacy policy explains how to see what I hold, correct it, or complain. Read the privacy policy.

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