Benefit from a tax reduction through sustainable investing
Thanks to the Tax Shelter, investing directly in the capital of young companies offers a double advantage: you can receive a reduction on your income tax while you’re financing the development of unlisted Belgian companies: start-ups and SMEs.
On LITA.co, you always invest sustainably, and you can choose from a large array of investment opportunities with a strong positive impact. This way, you contribute to the development of an economy committed to a social and ecological transition.
What is the Tax Shelter?
Our equity investment offer allows you to reduce your taxes. The Tax Shelter is a framework that allows private taxpayers in Belgium to deduct 25%, 30% or 45% of the amount of their investment in shares in a scale-up, SME or micro-enterprise from the tax payable on their revenue. The percentage of the tax reduction depends on the type of company being financed.
Since February 2017, this tax incentive has been accessible to crowdfunding platforms and therefore also to the impact investors of LITA.co. The Tax Shelter was introduced under the "start-up plan", a set of measures aimed at supporting the creation and growth of start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs in Belgium.
How to benefit from the Tax Shelter?
When you invest in a project on LITA.co that has the mention "Tax Shelter", you can reduce your taxes by up to 45% of your investment. To get a tax reduction on your income of year N, your investment must have taken place between January 1 and December 31 of the same year N.
For example: If you invest €1000 in shares of a company eligible for the Tax Shelter of 45% before December 31, you are entitled to a €450 tax reduction on your income tax for that same year.
An investor can invest a maximum of €100 000 per year through the Tax Shelter. Only natural persons can benefit from the Tax Shelter, legal entities (companies, NPOs, cooperatives) cannot benefit from the Tax Shelter.
Important information: shares must be held for 48 months after the investment to preserve the full tax benefit.
How to declare a Tax Shelter investment?
You must declare your investments made in year N in the tax declaration made in year N+1. For example: you declare all your Tax Shelter investments made between January 1 and December 31 of that year, in your tax declaration of the following year.
LITA.co creates your tax certificates and makes them available on your personal online account. A funded company may sometimes decide not to subcontract this service to LITA.co but to create and transfer the tax certificates to the investors itself. In such case, you will have been informed during the fundraising process.
In due time, LITA.co will send a reminder email to you as an investor explaining how to declare your investment in your tax declaration.
Please note that the request for tax reduction cannot be submitted for another year than the effective year of the capital increase of the company.
Which companies are eligible?
All companies on LITA.co that mention 'Tax Shelter’ are eligible for a Tax Shelter investment.
To qualify for the Tax Shelter, the company must qualify as a micro-enterprise*, SME* or scale-up*, have its headquarters and activities in Belgium and be maximum 4 years old (for SMEs and micro-enterprises) or be at least 4 and maximum 10 years old (for scale-ups). The percentage of tax reduction depends on the type of company: 25% for a scale-up, 30% for an SME or 45% for a micro-enterprise.
*A micro-enterprise is an enterprise that does not exceed more than one of the following criteria:
Balance sheet total: € 350,000
Employees: 10
Turnover: € 700,000
*An SME is an enterprise that does not exceed more than one of the following criteria:
Balance sheet total: € 4,500,000
Employees: 50
Turnover: € 9,000,000
*A scale-up is an enterprise that has achieved a growth of at least 10% in turnover or number of full-time equivalents during the two previous financial years and that does not exceed more than one of the following criteria:
Balance sheet total: €4,500,000
Employees: 50
Turnover: € 9,000,000
A micro-enterprise or SME can raise up to €500,000 in capital shares. Scale-ups can raise up to €1,000,000 through the Tax Shelter for scale-ups, but this amount must be reduced by any amount already raised through the Tax shelter for start-ups (micro-enterprise or SME).