Hi, I had my company shares compulsory bought this year, as my employer was being bought out. Was a privately owned US company, my shares bought 15ish years ago, price risen steadily over years so my gain was over 70K.
I had been advised by colleagues a couple of years ago to put the shares in mine and DH joint names, which I did, meaning we can now offset both our CGT allowances against the gain. However, you do need to put the shares into your joint names prior to the sale (if his company allows it), so that the gain is classed as joint and you can use both allowances. I did it as I would have had to sell my shares back to the company on retirement, however I am now very glad that I didnt wait a year or 2!!
I cannot see how he can use both this year allowance as well as nexts? As far as HMRC are concerned, all the gain will be within the tax year that the shares are compulsory purchased, unless he can sell some of his shares within the current tax year (our company banned any share sales once the takeover was made known but we only had a few weeks notice).
The other way to lower liability, is to sell any personal shares he has in other companies, that may have lost value since he bought them. He can then offset this loss against the gain from his company shares.
Hope this helps a little.
I have just come to the conclusion that the gain we got was a very nice sum and we will still have plenty of it left after paying CGT so just need to suck it up. It's a pity, as colleagues that had retired in recent years had sold shares off annually to ensure no CGT, but then they didnt get the uplifted share price that the rest of us got from the buyout.