Section 165: The no tax avoidance requirement
550.This section stops the investor being a qualifying investor if the subscription was not for commercial reasons or if a main purpose was tax avoidance. It is based on section 289(6) of ICTA. There is a complementary requirement in respect of the issue of the shares in Chapter 3 of this Part.
551.Section 289(6) of ICTA has introductory wording about the investor “not being eligible for relief”. There is no need for similar introductory words in this section, because section 162 already provides that the investor is not a qualifying investor if the no tax avoidance requirement is not met, and is therefore not eligible for EIS relief (section 157(1)(b)).
552.To be consistent with related legislation, for example paragraph 14 of Schedule 15 to FA 2000 (corporate venturing scheme), this section refers to “commercial reasons” rather than “commercial purposes”.