Shelter your wealth in a start-up

13 january 2013

WEALTHY investors are rushing to take advantage of tax reliefs worth hundreds of thousands of pounds for backing start-up firms before the end of the tax year.

Envestors, a business angel network that brings together investors and start-up companies looking for funding, has experienced a surge in interest from those seeking to use annual allowances by April 5.

Investments in start-up firms can attract income tax relief of 30% on up to £500,000 of investment via an enterprise investment scheme (EIS) and up to £200,000 invested in venture capital trusts (VCT), each year. These limits are set to rise to £1m for EIS and £500,000 for VCTs in the new tax year.