Income Tax Act 2007

295 The unquoted status requirement

(1) The requirement of this section is that the relevant company must be an unquoted company.

(2) In this section “unquoted company” means a company none of whose shares, stocks, debentures or other securities are marketed to the general public.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), shares, stocks, debentures or other securities are marketed to the general public if they are—

(a) listed on the Stock Exchange or a stock exchange that is a recognised stock exchange by virtue of an order made under section 1005,

(b) listed on a designated exchange in a country outside the United Kingdom, or

(c) dealt in on the Unlisted Securities Market or dealt in outside the United Kingdom by such means as may be designated.

(4) In subsection (3)(b) and (c) “designated” means designated by an order made by the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for the purposes of that provision.

(5) An order made for the purposes of subsection (3)(b) may designate an exchange by name, or by reference to any class or description of exchanges, including a class or description framed by reference to any authority or approval given in a country outside the United Kingdom.

(6) If—

(a) any shares in or securities of a company are included in the qualifying holdings of the investing company, and

(b) that company ceases to be an unquoted company at any time while the investing company is approved as a VCT,

the requirements of this section are to be treated, in relation to shares or securities acquired before that time, as continuing to be met for a period of 5 years after that time.