There’s less than three weeks left until the end of the tax year, when most of the investment allowances for the 2023/24 tax year are lost.
Deadlines on some products, particularly venture capital schemes such as EIS, SEIS and VCTs, are sooner still.
Nicholas Hyett, Investment Manager at Wealth Club said, “If you’re a high net worth or sophisticated investor, then the tax year end starts early.
“Despite some tweaks at the budget, tax rates remain at the highest levels in decades – especially for wealthier investors.
“Venture capital schemes that offer generous tax relief for supporting young UK businesses help to alleviate some of that pressure. But, unlike your annual ISA subscription, you can’t afford to leave it until the last minute.
“Especially as this year the Good Friday and Easter Monday bank holidays are so close to the tax year end.
“Many tax efficient investment funds close before the end of March, and popular VCT offers may close even before that.”
Needs to be actioned now
Investors in Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Funds will find that many schemes have already closed for the 2023/24 tax year, but there are a few remaining open with the latest deadline on 28th March, including;
- the Fuel Ventures Follow-on EIS Fund and Haatch EIS Fund, which end on 28th March 2024.
Investments into EIS qualifying single companies may be possible at a later date.
A week before the end of tax year
For investors in Knowledge Intensive EIS Funds deadlines range from 28th March up to 5th April at noon;
- Parkwalk Knowledge Intensive EIS Fund III has a deadline of 28th March
- Par Knowledge Intensive EIS Fund II 4th April at 5pm
- Octopus Ventures Knowledge Intensive Fund closes on 5th April at noon
- Calculus Knowledge Intensive EIS Fund II closes on 5th April at 5pm.
From three weeks before end of tax year
There are a steady stream of VCT deadlines leading up to the tax year end. Some are deadlines to qualify for discounts or dividend payments, while other VCTs don’t have any deadlines prior to the offer closing for the year. The most imminent deadline for each VCT is shown below
- 20th March for Albion VCTs
- 22nd March for Blackfinch Spring VCT, Octopus Apollo VCT and Octopus Titan VCT, Hargreave Hale AIM VCT and Calculus VCT
- 25th March at 9am for Baronsmead VCTs
- 2nd April at 5pm for Octopus Future Generations VCT
- 3rd April for Foresight Technology VCT and Praetura Growth VCT
- 4th April at noon deadline for Seneca Growth Capital VCT
- 4th April at 3pm for Guiness VCT and ProVen VCTs
- 4th April at 5.30pm for Fuel Ventures VCT
- 5th April at 9am for Maven VCTs
- 5th April 10am for Molten Ventures VCT
- 5th April at 11am for Puma Alpha VCT and Puma VCT 13
- 5th April at noon for Triple Point Venture VCT.
In the last week
- You can shelter up to £20,000 in an ISA or £9,000 in a Junior ISA this tax year and all dividends, interest or capital gains are tax-free. Payments into ISAs at Wealth Club need to be completed and cleared by 5pm on 3rd April, but check the end of year cut off deadlines with your ISA as they vary across providers.
- The annual allowance for adding money in to your SIPPs is £60,000, although you can’t add more than you earned. Wealth Club is accepting cleared payments up to 5pm on 3rd April but some providers will take payments by debit cards into pensions up to 30 minutes before midnight on 5th April, but remember that bank transfers can take longer and have earlier cut off deadlines so check with your provider.
24 hours to go
- The Capital Gains Tax allowance will drop from £6,000 to £3,000 from 6th April. Investors with large gains might consider selling some shares to make use of the higher allowance while they have it.
