Oxford Capital’s Approved EIS Fund has received HMRC advanced assurance on tax relief in 2009/10

Several competing ‘tax led’ EIS Funds have either been removed from market or remain under HMRC review.


12 February 2010, Oxford, UK

The Oxford Gateway Approved EIS Fund 2009/10 from Oxford Capital has received advanced assurance from HMRC that its fund will benefit from EIS tax reliefs in the 2009/10 tax year. It is one a few EIS Funds this tax year to have received HMRC advanced assurance on tax relief in 2009/10.  This confirmation follows the announcement that some providers are withdrawing their EIS Funds as a result of concerns about potential charges in the EIS regulations form HMRC.

Ted Mott, chief executive Oxford Capital says:
“We would like to assure all our clients and financial advisers that the Oxford Gateway Approved EIS Fund 2009/10 has received all the necessary approvals from HMRC, and that our investments will benefit from full tax relief in the 2009/10 tax year.  Our funds only invest in genuine entrepreneurial enterprises and comply in full both with the spirit and the letter of the EIS regulations.

“In comparison, the EIS Approved Funds that attracted the largest amount of subscriptions in 2008/09 are not currently available for investors wishing to mitigate tax this year.  So far HMRC has only granted pre approval to a handful of investment managers compared to this time last year.  This is widely believed to be part of the continued clamp down on the more aggressive tax schemes that do not act in the spirit of the legislation that conveys their tax advantages.

“Backing emerging companies through EIS is not as high risk as many commentators sometimes suggest.  We are absolutely focused on risk minimisation at every stage.  We typically provide investors with 12-15 companies within their portfolio which gives good diversification to minimise the impact of the occasional failure.  In fact we have delivered an average growth of 90 per cent on all of the investments we have exited.”

The Oxford Gateway Approved EIS Fund 2009/10, launched on 1 February 2010, allows investors to benefit from 20 per cent income tax relief on up to £500,000 of capital invested in the current tax year.  The fund is only available for a limited period until 1st April 2010.

The fund also offers additional generous tax breaks, which are increasingly valuable in the face of rising tax bills:

  • Tax free gains - on up to £500,000 invested per tax year
  • 100 per cent Inheritance Tax exemption after two years - on unlimited amounts
  • The potential to save 22 per cent Capital Gains Tax on gains taxed at 40% in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 tax years

The Oxford Gateway Approved EIS Fund 2009/10 is designed for private investors with a minimum investment of £25,000, up to a maximum of £2 million.  The EIS Fund structure was pioneered by Oxford Capital and has the benefit of a fully discretionary portfolio service approach backed by active involvement of the manager with the portfolio companies.  The fund has an initial fee of up to five per cent and an annual management fee of two and a half per cent.  There is a performance fee of 20 per cent of the fund’s net return after 100 per cent return of investors’ capital.

For information about the Fund and Applicaiton Forms, please click here.