Why can't I cease a shareholder?

Short answer

You see the message:

Cannot cease shareholder "..." — they still hold N shares. Transfer or buy back first.

This is a guard against an inconsistent s113 register. A shareholder is ceased when they've disposed of all their shares — not while they still hold any.

What to do

You need to dispose of the shares first, via one of:

1. Transfer — move their shares to another shareholder (gift, sale, exit deal). Go to Share Transactions → Transfer.
2. Buyback — the company buys their shares back. Go to Share Transactions → Buyback.

Once their holding hits zero, you can return to Shareholders, open their row, and set the Ceased at date.

Edge case: holdings were transferred off-system

Sometimes a transfer happened off-system (verbally, in another tool, before you started using Blankitt) but the holdings still show in Blankitt. In that case:

• Record the transfer in Blankitt retroactively with the actual transaction date, OR
• Use a buyback at zero consideration to zero out the holding before ceasing

Either way, the s113 register ends up consistent.