Investment Reliefs 2019/20

Annual investment limits2019/202018/19
Individual Savings Account (ISA)
– Overall limit£20,000£20,000
– Lifetime ISA (LISA)4,0004,000
Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)2,000,0001,000,000
Seed EIS (SEIS)100,000100,000
Venture Capital Trust (VCT)200,000200,000
Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR)1,000,0001,000,000

Notes

  1. ISA investors can invest in any combination of cash or shares, up to the overall limits shown. The £4,000 LISA limit is part of the general ISA limit of £20,000, not additional to it.
  2. Taxpayers aged between 18 and 40 may open a LISA and invest up to £4,000 each year, which qualifies for a 25% Government bonus on amounts invested up to the age of 50.
  3. This benefit is retained as long as the money is either
    • put towards a first home costing up to £450,000, or
    • kept in the account until reaching age 60, or
    • withdrawn after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
  4. If the money in a LISA is withdrawn in other circumstances, the bonus will be clawed back with an additional 5% charge.
  5. Junior ISA, with an investment limit of £4,368 (2018/19: £4,260), is available to those aged under 18 and who don’t have a Child Trust Fund account. At age 18, their junior ISA becomes an adult ISA.
  6. Amounts invested above £1m in the EIS must be in ‘knowledgeintensive’ companies.
  7. EIS, VCT and SITR investments attract 30% Income Tax relief, but those schemes all have different qualifying rules.
  8. SEIS investments attract 50% Income Tax relief.
  9. Where the disposal proceeds from any capital gain are reinvested under EIS or SITR in the four-year period that starts one year before the date of the gain, all or part of the original gain can be deferred.
  10. Gains reinvested under SEIS, within the same tax year, up to the investment limit attract 50% exemption from CGT.
  11. Investments made under EIS, SEIS and SITR can be carried back to be treated as made in the previous tax year, subject to the investment limits.
  12. Disposals of investments acquired under EIS, SEIS, SITR or VCT are exempt from CGT if investment conditions have not been broken.