EIIS Investments 2024

EIIS Investments Opportunities

What are EIIS Investments?

EIIS (Employment Investment Incentive Scheme) is a mechanism for start-ups and young businesses in Ireland to receive investment that is tax efficient for the investor.  Essentially the investor can receive 40% tax relief* on the investment so €1000 invested costs just €600.

One attractive aspect is that unlike pension contributions tax relief is also available on non-earned income such as dividends and rental income.

The Employment & Investment Incentive (EIIS Scheme) allows individual investors to obtain income tax relief on investments made, in each tax year, into EII certified qualifying companies.
- Enterprise Ireland


There are some rules and requirements:


  • A absolute minimum period of four years.
  • Maximum investments in a year of  €500,000 in respect of the years after 2019, subject to those shares being held for a minimum period of seven years; or
  • Maximum investments in a year of  €250,000 in respect of the years after 2019 where those shares are held for a minimum period of four years only.
  • As of Budget 2024 the maximum investment in a year of €500,000 for all periods.
  • Not subject to the High Earners Restrictions

  • Additional considerations:

  • You are investing in young companies so there is a significant risk losing all the investment. Spreading the risk across multiple EIIS investments should be considered.
  • You may not get an exit at four years
  • Capital Gains Tax (CGT) will need to be paid on any gains
  • Investments may be a fixed rate of return and exit timeline akin to a loan or they may be equity giving a full participation in the upside and potentially higher returns but less predictable exit times.

    You can invest in EIIS scheme a number of ways:

  • Directly invest with the company.  This typically requires a minimum investment of €5,000-€10,000.
  • Invest in an EIIS fund.  This typically requires a minimum investment of €10,000-€20,000 and a ~3% initial fee. The advantage is you area automatically getting diversification into 5-10 companies and a level of professional expertise which will hopefully improve the gains.  Some funds do cap the upside gains however but this may be due to a fixed rate of return. In addition, you will need to wait for them to invest your money for you adding perhaps 6-9 months to the process.
  • Invest via a Crowdfunding Platform. Some of the Crowdfunding Platforms offer EIIS investment opportunities.  The minimum investment is around €250 allowing you to diversify. A certain amount of due diligence has been done before these companies get on to these platforms.

This site aims to be a single point of reference for current EIIS investment opportunities in the Irish market.

Examples:

An individual on the higher tax rate would normally pay 40% marginal rate of income tax.  There for €1000 gross earned would result in €600 net.

If the individual invested €1000 in EIIS investment(s):

Example 1:
€1000 invested in a successful company.  40% tax relief* can be claimed. At the end of 4 years an exit  returns a total of €1300 giving a Capital Gain of €300.  Assuming Capital Gains Tax of 33% brings this down to €200.  This leaves a net value of €1200. This is double what you would have had if you not invested.

Example 2:
€1000 invested in a unsuccessful company.  40% tax relief* can be claimed. The company fails returns a total of €0.  This leaves an actual net loss of 60%.

As to how many of your investments would be successful ?

Obviously this hard predict but early stage investors might expect 50% fail, 40% could be marginally successful and 10% could be very successful.

See the Official Revenue Information on EIIS

*Update 31st Oct 2023:

Please note that there has recently been some affecting EIIS changes in Finance Bill 2024. These will mean a replacing of the 40% tax relief with a range on rates between 20% and 50%. The basic rules are as follows:

  • 50% tax relief for businesses that have "not operated in any market" so likely very early stage businesses.
  • 35% tax relief for businesses less than 7 years old fundraising via EIIS for the first time.
  • 20% tax relief for businesses EIIS fundraising its second or subsequent times.
  • 20% tax relief for business expanding into new markets or regions.
  • 30% tax relief for investments via a "Qualifying Investment Fund" which would currently include only the Elkstone Fund.

    Likely many of the investments currently getting a 40% tax relief will move into the 35% bracket.
Purpose of this Site
This site aims to be a single point of reference for current EIIS investment opportunities in the Irish market.
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Maximum Tax Relief*
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Annual Limit