There are a few differences between a Knowledge-intensive (KI) EIS fund, which is also known as an HMRC-approved EIS fund, and a normal EIS fund; the underlying investments are similar and can be the same.
The tax reliefs are similar, but there are some enhanced tax treatments with a KI EIS fund, such as the higher maximum (£2m per year) and for income tax purposes, the date that an HMRC-approved KI EIS fund closes is deemed to be the date that all the subsequent investments have been made. Having all the EIS investments from a KI fund deemed to have been completed on the same day is useful from a tax planning perspective. However, the HMRC-approved KI EIS fund does not change the management of capital gains tax or inheritance tax treatment.
Knowledge-intensive EIS companies are a specific subset of highly innovative companies, which are commonplace in our EIS portfolio. The company profile is not significantly different to a standard portfolio, and due to this overlap (c90%) we do not believe that the returns of our KI EIS will be different to our standard EIS.