Nearly 37,000 UK companies closed in 2024/25, the highest level since the pandemic. Newspapers frame it as doom and decline. But the real story? Thousands of entrepreneurs aren’t failing. They’re choosing to close or if they are a digital business to simply just move. Many are already building their next ventures in entrepreneur friendly parts of the world.

The Truth Behind the Numbers

Companies House recorded:

• 12,579 Members’ Voluntary Liquidations (MVLs) — solvent businesses winding up by choice.
• 24,229 insolvent liquidations — companies that couldn’t meet debts.
• 36,808 total closures — a mix of necessity and strategy.

That MVL number matters. It’s a post-pandemic high and the second-highest on record. Which means thousands of owners didn’t “lose” their businesses, they cashed out, cleaned up, and moved on.

The Tax Shock That Lit the Fuse

For years, Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) gave UK entrepreneurs a golden parachute: exit at just 10% tax.

That parachute is now shrinking fast:

• 14% from April 2025
• 18% from April 2026

The £1m lifetime limit remains, but let’s be honest: the signal is clear. The government wants more of your exit.

And entrepreneurs have noticed. Why keep compounding risk here when other countries, from Dubai to Cyprus, Lisbon to Singapore, they roll out the red carpet with lower taxes, clearer rules, and better growth incentives?

What Entrepreneurs Are Really Doing

Behind every MVL statistic is a story like this:

• A founder who sold up before the tax spike.
• An owner who dissolved a profitable company to start fresh abroad.
• A family business that chose a clean MVL instead of grinding through rising costs and rising taxes.

These aren’t failures. They’re entrepreneurs pulling the ripcord before the system drags them down and then re-deploying their capital and energy where they see the best chance to win without the headwinds that the UK Government whip up for them.

What This Means for You

If you’re reading this as a UK entrepreneur, here’s the hard truth:

✔ Waiting costs money. Every year you delay, the taxman takes a bigger bite.
✔ You have options. MVL if you’re solvent, CVL if you’re not both routes let you control the ending.
✔ The world is open. You don’t have to keep playing the UK game if the odds are stacked against you.

Final Thought

No one builds a business to shut it down. But sometimes shutting down is the smartest power move you can make.

That’s why thousands of entrepreneurs joined the 12,579 MVLs last year not to quit, but to reset, reposition, and relaunch somewhere they can build bigger and faster.

So here’s the question: if you had to exit in the next 12 months, would you let the UK system decide for you or would you take control and design your next global chapter?