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VCTs

The Government has announced that changes that will impact companies attracting investment under the VCT schemes will be introduced in the 2007 Finance Act.

Going forward, if an investment is to qualify under the VCT scheme, the company raising the investment must not have more than 50 employees and no more than £2m may be raised under the scheme in any 12 month period.

The inadvertent breach rules are to be replaced and HMRC is to be given new powers to make Regulations in respect of the non-withdrawal of VCT approval.

The 70% qualifying holdings rule is also to be amended, so that disposals of qualifying holdings on or after 6 April 2007 will be ignored for the purpose of the 70% test if they have been held as part of qualifying holdings for least 6 months. This amendment is intended to give VCTs up to 6 months to reinvest or distribute disposal proceeds.
 

Our view
The changes to the qualifying holdings rules are welcome, as they should provide VCTs with breathing space to make the right decisions as regards to further investment. However, the other changes could potentially represent a limitation on investment and increased uncertainty as regards to VCTs approved status in the case of an inadvertent breach.