We are delighted with the Government’s announcement that it plans to consult on widening the scope of the Venture Capital Schemes, including the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), and also the inclusion of AIM shares in individual savings accounts (ISAs). This follows strong pressure from the QCA, the London Stock Exchange and other industry bodies.
The Government intends to collect evidence on:
- increasing the employee limit to 250 full-time employees;
- increasing the gross assets limit to £15 million before the investment and £16 million after the investment;
- increasing the annual investment limit to £5 million per target company; and
- considering whether ‘gross assets’ is an adequate measure of company size.
- The Government also plans to consult on the inclusion of AIM shares in ISAs, which would help to increase retail investment and liquidity in AIM.
The QCA included widening VCTs' scopes and the inclusion of AIM shares in ISAs in its annual Budget representations to the Chancellor. We have also been highlighting these issues in our campaign to the Government to set up a working group to design an appropriate structure for equity markets.
The QCA Tax Committee will gather evidence on these proposed measures and participate in the debate with HM Treasury and HMRC.
