Hargreaves Lansdown is launching a new VCT online service.
The platform says the new service ‘brings a straightforward and transparent product to the VCT market’. As tax bands are frozen and allowances squeezed, for those confident investors who have already hit their ISA and pension allowances, VCTs offer a means to get additional tax relief and shelter on investments.
Emma Wall, head of platform investments, Hargreaves Lansdown: “HL’s new VCT online service will broaden our client offering, support the VCT investment market and help shape it for the future.
“After the commitment made by the Government to extended VCTs to 2035, and given the tax changes announced in the Budget, VCTs are a great way for people to invest their money in a tax-efficient way, over the longer term, as part of a diverse investment portfolio.
“We’re delighted to partner with Octopus Ventures, Calculus, and Blackfinch Investments to launch our new service with five initial VCTs, which will invest in AIM businesses and key sectors of the UK economy.
“The VCT market has been a vital tool for entrepreneurial UK businesses to get the seed funding they need to kick-start their enterprise for nearly 30 years, which has helped the UK to be one of the best places in the world to start a business. Using our market leading position and scale, our VCT service has the potential to help the VCT market grow in the future, delivering favourable returns for investors, and support more businesses at the start of their growth journey.”
The most recent National Audit Office statistics shows that in 2022 to 2023, over 26,000 VCT investors claimed income tax relief on £985 million of investment.
The new client offering is starting with five VCTs:
Octopus Investments: Octopus AIM VCT, Octopus AIM VCT 2, Octopus Apollo VCT;
Blackfinch Ventures: Blackfinch Spring VCT
Calculus: Calculus VCT
Hargreaves Lansdown says these VCTs are part of 49 existing VCTs on its platform.
Main image: pawel-czerwinski-HKHwdinroSo-unsplash
