A fishy story

TO ENCOURAGE INVESTMENTS in unquoted companies tax relief has been available in a variety of guises over the years with enterprise investment scheme (EIS) relief drawing heavily on previous incentives but the detail is not easy to grasp.
EIS income tax relief and deferral relief are laudable in their intentions but the plethora of pitfalls make many advisers feel that it is foolhardy even to contemplate suggesting the availability of the reliefs to their clients.
Knowing where these common pitfalls lie could make advisers a little more confident in suggesting EIS reliefs to clients even if it means seeking specialist advice once the concepts have been outlined with the client.
EIS relief contains two main sets of rules one for income tax relief and another for capital gains tax deferral. Broadly speaking the requirements for income tax relief differ from those for deferral...