European Commission approves ten-year UK sunset clause extension for VCTs and EIS

Extended until April 2035

The European Commission (EC) has given the green light to the UK’s prolongation of the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) regimes until April 2035.

In a decision published on 14 August, the executive arm of the EU said it would not raise objections to the UK government's extension of the existing VCT and EIS regimes from 5 April 2025 by a decade. This confirmation, which is needed as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, ensures that VCTs/EIS can continue offering their current tax reliefs until 5 April 2035 but further approval will be required after this date. According to the Commission, extending the sunset clause until 5 April 2035, along with allocating an estimated budget of £100m for the ten-year period, is sufficient ...