Why Invest

GEPA has successfully completed SEIS phase one and is now in Phase 2 which is EIS.

We are SEIS and EIS approved

As part of the UK government’s ongoing initiative to support SMEs each scheme was designed to make investment in UK-based businesses attractive. These schemes offer generous tax reliefs to investors who are willing to put their faith and money into ambitious companies like ours.

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

In April 2012, the UK chancellor introduced the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, or SEIS. It offers advantages over the conventional EIS, including a 50% tax relief (instead of 30%), but total equity investment is limited to a maximum of ₤200,000 over two years. An SEIS is a fantastic way to protect against downside risk on lower risk on lower budget productions.

Enterprise Investment Scheme

First introduced in 1994, the Enterprise Investment Scheme, or EIS, was designed by the UK Government to encourage equity investment in unlisted (private) companies and to stimulate entrepreneurial activity. An EIS encourages investors to invest in qualifying companies through a series of very generous tax reliefs.

SEIS

SEIS is focused on very early-stage companies and offers significantly greater Income Tax relief of 50% against the amount invested.

The lifetime cap is £150,000 when investing in SEIS-eligible businesses, investors can expect tax relief benefits up to £100,000 each tax year, the following will apply:

Greater Income Tax relief of 50% against the amount invested.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemption on any gain from the sale of your shares if they have held shares for 3 years
CGT write-off of 50% of the investment amount in the same tax year
Shares are generally inheritance tax (IHT) free, as long as the shares are held for an initial period of over 2 years
If shares are sold at a loss, investors can offset this against CGT or Income Tax

EIS

EIS is designed for small and medium-sized businesses and comes with Income Tax relief of 30% against the amount invested.

An investor can invest up to the maximum annual investment of £1m per tax year. An EIS company has a lifetime cap of £12m or £20m if the company is “knowledge intensive”

Key benefits associated with EIS include:

Investors will be exempt from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) gain made from the sale of their shares, after they have held them for 3 years
They can defer up to 100% of their investment amount against any CGT incurred up to 1 year before or 3 years after disposal
Shares are generally inheritance tax (IHT) free, as long as the shares are held for an initial period of more than 2 years
If the shares are sold at a loss, they can offset this against CGT or Income Tax
The investor can carry back part or all of the investment in the preceding year they invested

Graphic design by Lara Wallman and Limelight