I know everybody tries to get their budget views out really quickly and I’m reluctant to contribute to the noise – but readers will be interested in this quick point (something we, and many other commentators,  have been predicting for a while):

“EIS and VCTs: consultation – The government is concerned about the growing use of contrived structures to allow investment in low-risk activities that benefit from income guarantees via government subsidies and will therefore explore a more general change to exclude investment into these activities, consulting with stakeholders. The government is also interested in exploring options for venture capital reliefs to apply where investments are in the form of convertible loans, and will be considering this as part of a wider consultation and evidence gathering exercise over summer 2014.”

Page 68, point 2.80 of the published PDF if you want to look it up.

Thanks

Dan