After much speculation that it would be abolished in the Budget, entrepreneurs’ relief remains available, but with a significantly lower lifetime allowance. For qualifying disposals on or after Budget day (11 March 2020), the lifetime limit is £1 million – reduced from £10 million.
Where clients took protective action prior to Budget day in an attempt to secure availability of the relief, it should be noted that anti-forestalling provisions apply.
Where a contract was entered into prior to 11 March 2020 in respect of a disposal that would be a qualifying disposal for entrepreneurs’ relief purposes, the new £1 million lifetime limit will apply rather than former £10 million lifetime limit unless the parties to the contract are able to demonstrate that they did not enter into the contract to take advantage of the timing rules in TCGA 1992 whereby the date of the disposal is set as the time at which the contract was made. Further, where the parties to the contract are connected, they must also demonstrate that the contract was entered into wholly for commercial reasons to benefit from the £10 million lifetime limit.
Anti-forestalling measures also apply in certain circumstances where shares are exchanged for those in another company in the period from 6 April 2019 to 11 March 2020 and both companies are controlled or owned by substantially the same person.
It should be noted that disposals qualifying for entrepreneurs’ relief prior to 11 March 2020 count towards the new £1 million limit and clients who have already benefitted from entrepreneurs’ relief on qualifying disposals of more than £1 million will not be able to benefit from the relief on further disposals. Spouses and civil partners have their own lifetime limits allowing some planning to maximise the relief available, but each must meet the qualifying conditions for the requisite two-year period.