Wealthy investors are being offered more incentives to put money into start-up ventures as part of the government’s push to promote Silicon Valley-style “angel investment”. A waiver on capital gains tax (CGT) for investors in early stage enterprises is being extended for another year, a senior official at HM Revenue & Customs said. The move should increase the number of people benefiting from George Osborne’s seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) – a package of measures to aid angel investment – announced in last year’s Budget. By Jonathan Moules, FT Enterprise Correspondent Full story.
The Share Republic is open for subscription for £150,000 in return for 10% of equity under SEIS scheme. This implies that the investor will get 50% income tax relief on his/her investment. In addition, if the investor sells share during the tax year, it can also claim capital gains tax relief on the amount invested in the Share Republic under the SEIS scheme. To illustrate in figures, if you are a 50% tax payer and have made profit by selling shares this tax year, if you invest £100 in the share republic, you can claim £78 back on your tax return. It effectively means that you get £100 worth of shares at £22. For an SEIS calculator, click here.
In November 2011, George Osborne hatched a plan to give investors up to 78 per cent tax relief on investments into small start-up companies. He called it the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (Seis).
SEIS, which kicked off in April 2012, offers upfront income tax relief of 50 per cent, and an exemption from capital gains tax if the investment comes from gains realised in that tax year. On top of this, if the company fails, losses can be offset against an income tax liability.
According to Doug Richard, top-rate taxpayers who combine all of these reliefs can end up with 100.5 per cent of their initial investment protected. “I had HMRC check the numbers,” he adds. Read full article by Duncan Robinson FT Financial Services 12 September 2012.
The Share Republic is an SEIS company and is currently open for subscription. The SEIS is limited to a total of £150,000 and is allocated on a first come first served basis. Click here to find out more.
The Share Republic received its Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme Advance Assurance from the UK HMRC on 10 September 2012. This implies that The Share Republic is authorised to issue share certificates under section 257EC(1) ITA 2007 for ordinary shares issued to individual investors. The Share Republic became a plc and issued an offer for subscription for £150,000 under SEIS in November 2012. This offer for subscription is still open. We believe The Share Repubilc business in online share trading software development is an excellent SEIS opportunity, because of the significant team experience in agile software development combined its CEO, Geoffrey Hoodless’ years of experience in online share dealing platforms. The company owns 100% of The Share Republic.com Limited, which is an FSA authorised firm, which implies extensive compliance experience in the team.
The Share Republic Business Plan and Offer for Subscription
Geoffrey Hoodless at the business plans competition, University of Greenwich, June 2012.
The Share Republic CEO, Geoffrey Hoodless, was one of the judges at the 2012 Greenwich University annual Students Business Plans Competition with 140 participants . The winner was Harry Furneaux, for Active Snaps, an innovative instant 3D photo service for tourist attractions. Runner up Ibrahim Ali has since been in touch with The Share Republic to take his plans to develop Imkei - a mobile phone payment system – forward. Geoff said: ” I was impressed with the high quality business plans I reviewed and the presentations by the finalists. Universities are fertile grounds for entrepreneurs and I really enjoyed helping the University of Greenwich on this initiative.”
As part of the University of Greenwich Big Picture Seminars, Geoffrey Hoodless gave a talk about his 30 years’ experience in the City as an employee, analyst, fund manager, insurer, and entrepreneur.
Geoffrey Hoodless, CEO, The Share Republic.com Limited said: “Entrepreneurship is about creating as well as funding a company. I was delighted to have been given the opportunity to talk about both sides to students. They represent the future both as potential company creators as well as investors. It is critical to equip them with as much tools, knowledge and inspiration as possible, so they can participate and contribute fully to society. We can call it financial education, but for us it just makes plain business sense.”
Alex McGrath, BA (Hons) Accounting & Finance, University of Greenwich wrote: “I am very keen on the investment industry, primarily within the markets. I’m just writing to you firstly to say thank you for a very insightful talk, and also because I am curious as to what you were going to talk about if we had enough time at the end – about choosing which companies to invest in? I’d love to hear your tips or views on what you have experienced. I have been signed up to the ShareRepublic.com for almost a month now and am enjoying it immensely. It’s a really easy platform to use and nicely laid out – I may enjoy it more if I make some money!”
