A relief for the Big Society?

The Government are to introduce a new range of tax incentives for individuals investing in equity and certain debt in qualifying social enterprises with effect from April 2014.

Eligible organisations are charities, community interest companies and community benefit societies.

Currently, many social enterprises have difficulty raising capital from investors and commercial lenders. The measures are intended to increase investment in social enterprises seeking external finance by providing incentives to individuals who invest in them.

The range of tax reliefs for qualifying individuals who make qualifying investments is set to include:

• income tax relief as a percentage of the amount invested (investment is capped at £1m annually), to be deducted from the individual's income tax liability for either the tax year of investment or the previous year
• capital gains tax (CGT) deferral on chargeable gains in certain circumstances and
• CGT exemption on social enterprise investments subject to conditions being met.

Please contact us for further details if this is an area of interest to you.