Tax Aspects of Demergers. A Live Online Course

Splitting a business isn’t just a corporate strategy — it’s a powerful tax planning tool.

Demergers, whether driven by shareholder disputes, regulatory pressures, or commercial restructuring, have become an essential part of the tax adviser’s toolkit. Yet navigating the tax implications is complex — and mistakes can be costly.

Join us, on 7 October ,for a practical, two-hour online course designed for tax professionals and corporate lawyers who want to deepen their expertise in structuring tax-efficient demergers.

What You’ll Learn

In this focused session, we’ll guide you through the following topics:

Why Businesses Demerge

• The commercial and legal reasons owners decide to split their businesses

• How differing shareholder visions, regulatory pressures, or operational challenges drive demergers

• Strategic considerations that influence whether a demerger makes sense

The Three Main Demerger Mechanisms

• An in-depth look at the primary legal and tax routes for carrying out demergers

• How to select the right mechanism for different client scenarios

• The procedural steps and commercial factors in each type of demerger

Specific Tax Reliefs and How to Qualify

• Detailed coverage of key reliefs that can eliminate or reduce tax charges during a demerger

• Essential qualifying conditions that must be satisfied — and how to demonstrate them

• Practical guidance drawn from over four decades of combined experience

HMRC Clearances: When and How to Obtain Them

• Understanding why advance clearance is crucial for many demergers

• How to prepare persuasive clearance applications

• The most common reasons clearances fail — and how to avoid them

• Understanding the impact of the November 2025 HMRC clearance changes and how they affect the timing, content and presentation of applications

Risks, Pitfalls and Caveats

• Common traps that can inadvertently trigger corporation tax, capital gains tax, stamp taxes, or income tax liabilities

• Case studies showing real-life challenges and how they were resolved

• How to balance tax planning with commercial objectives

Practical Planning Tips and Professional Insights

• How to approach demergers proactively to add value for clients

• Integrating tax advice with legal and commercial strategies

• Questions to ask your clients to uncover hidden restructuring needs

• How to protect yourself and your firm from professional risk in complex demerger work

By the end of the course, you’ll feel confident in identifying, advising on, and managing demerger projects — turning complex tax rules into strategic opportunities for your clients.

Price: £199 + VAT for the first delegate BUT this is a per organisation price, so up to 10 of your colleagues from the same organisation can participate at absolutely no extra charge, even if they are viewing it from a different location or at a different time. So, of course, if there are 11 of you the cost per delegate would be just £18.09 each.

Why Attend?

• Gain a comprehensive, practical understanding of demerger options

• Build confidence in advising clients on complex restructurings

• Equip yourself to spot planning opportunities that add real client value

• Avoid costly mistakes through lessons learned from decades of experience

• Stay competitive in a changing tax landscape

Who Should Attend?

This course is designed for:

• Tax professionals with knowledge of corporate tax

• Corporate and commercial lawyers advising on business structuring

• Accountants working in corporate finance or business advisory teams

• Anyone who advises clients on business reorganisations and restructurings

Course Presenters

Pete Miller began his career with the Inland Revenue in 1988 with roles in tax districts in Birmingham and London before spending several years in head office, culminating as the Inland Revenue's expert on the rules for company distributions and advance corporation tax. Since going into private practice 25 years ago, Pete has worked for Big 4 firms and run his own business for 11 years, advising a wide range of clients from owner managed businesses to the largest corporate groups. While Pete has provided in-depth tax advice on all aspects of corporation tax, he specialises in the taxation of corporate transactions and the consequences to shareholders, including buying and selling companies, mergers and demergers, and all forms of corporate reorganisation. Pete is Chair of the CIOT's Owner Managed Business Tax Technical Committee, as well as being a member of the Tax Policy and Oversight Committee and of the Education Committee. He is also a member of the ICAEW Tax Faculty Business Tax Committee.

Nick Wright. As a member of the ICAEW and CIOT Nick specialises in technical corporate tax planning and company reorganisations advising on a variety of projects from mergers and acquisitions to company incorporation, management buyouts and demergers. Nick is a regular writer for various tax journals with articles published in Taxation, Tax Adviser and ICAEW Taxline. Presenting regular lectures to fellow professionals through various CPD providers including MBL, CPDStore and a variety of CIOT and ICAEW branches, Nick is host of the ‘Tax Hour’ podcast.

Important Notes about Booking

1. Please ensure that, when booking, you get colleagues' email addresses entirely correct as failure to do so will probably mean that they will not receive joining instructions

2. Payment can be made by credit or debit card or alternatively by invoice. The option to pay by invoice is below the pay by card option in the booking form

3. If you have more than 10 delegates then extra delegates are £20 each. 

4. If you don't have the complete list of who will be attending you can book for those that you know will be attending and add the others at a later date


The Legal Training Consultancy

The Legal Training Consultancy is a full-service training consultancy with a large portfolio of conferences, courses and trainers. Over the years we have been responsible for putting together a vast number of law and management related conferences, webinars, seminars, videos and e-learning modules. Altogether substantially more than 2000.