Finance Act 2015

Income tax relief for investment in corporate trades - employment and investment incentive and seed capital scheme

18. (1) Section 27 of the Finance Act 2014 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1) (a) (ii), in paragraph (d) of the definition of “relevant period”, by substituting “ ‘relevant amount’ ” for “ ‘average relevant amount’ ”,

(b) in subsection (1)(g) by substituting “Article 11 of Commission Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014 of 17 June 201413 ” for “section 5.4 of the Community Guidelines on State aid to promote risk finance investments3”, and

(c) in subsection (2) by substituting the following for paragraph (b):

“(b) Paragraphs (a) and (c) to (g) of subsection (1) have effect in respect of shares issued on or after 13 October 2015.”.

(2) Part 16 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in section 488(1) —

(i) by deleting the definitions of “average relevant amount” and “average threshold amount”,

(ii) in the definition of “eligible shares” by substituting “the relevant period” for “the period of 3 years beginning on the date on which they are issued”,

(iii) by substituting the following for the definition of “qualifying employee”:

“‘qualifying employee’, in relation to a qualifying company, means an employee (within the meaning of section 983), other than a director, of that company—

(i) who throughout his or her period of employment with that company is employed by that company for at least 30 hours duration per week, and

(ii) his or her employment is capable of lasting at least 12 months;”,

and

(iv) by inserting the following definitions:

“‘qualifying nursing home’ means—

(a) a nursing home within the meaning of section 2 of the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990 and which is registered under section 4 of that Act, and

(b) where applicable, a qualifying residential unit constructed on the site of, and operated by, a nursing home within the meaning of paragraph (a),

but does not include any nursing home or qualifying residential unit which is subject to any power on the exercise of which the nursing home or residential units, or any part or interest in the nursing home or residential units, may be revested in the person from whom it was purchased or exchanged or in any person on behalf of such person;

‘qualifying residential unit’ means a house which—

(a) is constructed on the site of, or on a site which is immediately adjacent to the site of, a registered nursing home,

(b) is—

(i) a single storey house, or

(ii) a house that is comprised in a building of one or more storeys in relation to which building a fire safety certificate under Part III of the Building Control Regulations 1997 ( S.I. No. 496 of 1997 ) is required, and prior to the commencement of the construction works on the building, is granted by the building control authority (within the meaning of section 2 of the Building Control Act 1990 ) in whose functional area the building is situated where—

(I) the house is, or (as the case may be) the house and the building in which it is comprised are, designed and constructed to meet the needs of persons with disabilities, including in particular the needs of persons who are confined to wheelchairs, and

(II) the house consists of one or two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, bath or shower facilities, toilet facilities and a nurse call system linked to the registered nursing home,

and

(c) is comprised in a development where—

(i) those units are operated or managed by the registered nursing home and an on-site caretaker is provided, and

(ii) back-up medical care, including nursing care, is provided by the registered nursing home to the occupants of those units when required by those occupants;

‘relevant amount’ means total emoluments (other than non-pecuniary emoluments) paid by a qualifying company to qualifying employees as referred to in the definition of ‘employment relevant number’, in the year of assessment in which, in relation to a subscription for eligible shares, a relevant period ends;

‘threshold amount’ means the total of the emoluments (other than non- pecuniary emoluments) paid by a qualifying company to the qualifying employees referred to in the definition of ‘employment threshold number’, in the year of assessment preceding the year of assessment in which the subscription for eligible shares was made but where there was a general reduction in the basic pay rate of qualifying employees then the threshold amount shall be reduced accordingly;”,

(b) in section 489—

(i) by substituting the following for subsection (1)(b):

“(b) those shares are issued to the individual for the purpose of raising money by a qualifying company where that money was used, is being used or is intended to be used by the qualifying company—

(i) for the purposes of carrying on relevant trading activities,

(ii) in the case of a company which has not commenced to trade, in incurring expenditure on research and development within the meaning of section 766, or

(iii) in the case of a company that owns and operates a qualifying nursing home, for the purposes of enlarging the capacity of the qualifying nursing home,

and”,

(ii) by inserting the following after subsection (3):

“(3A) Notwithstanding subsection (3), where—

(a) in accordance with section 506, relief is due in respect of an amount subscribed between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2014 as nominee for a qualifying individual by the managers of a designated fund, and

(b) the eligible shares in respect of which the amount is subscribed are issued between 1 January 2016 and 31 January 2016,

the individual may elect by notice in writing to the inspector to have the relief due under subsection (2)(a) given as a deduction from his or her total income for the year of assessment in which the amount was subscribed to the designated fund instead of (as provided for in subsection (2)(a)) as a deduction from his or her total income for the year of assessment in which the shares are issued.”,

and

(iii) by substituting the following for subsection (10) (a):

“(a) (i) the employment relevant number exceeds the employment threshold number by at least one qualifying employee, and

(ii) the relevant amount exceeds the threshold amount by at least the total emoluments of one qualifying employee in the year of assessment in which the relevant period ends,

or”,

and

(c) in section 494—

(i) by inserting the following after subsection (4):

“(4A) A company that does not meet the requirements of paragraphs 5 and 6 of Article 21 of Commission Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014 of 17 June 201414 shall not be a qualifying company.”,

and

(ii) by inserting the following after subsection (7):

“(7A) A company whose relevant trading activities includes operating a qualifying nursing home and is engaged in enlarging its capacity pursuant to section 489(1) (b) (iii) shall cease to be a qualifying company unless it has expended all of the money subscribed for eligible shares on such activities, within a period ending 30 days before the end of the relevant period.”.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall apply to shares issued on or after 13 October 2015.

13OJ No. L187, 26.6.2014, p.1

14OJ No. L187, 26.6.2014, p.43