Early stage investor offset worksheet (esi)
This worksheet:
- records the details of your investments in an early stage innovation company (ESIC) and
- calculates your entitlement to the early stage investment tax offset
From 1 July 2016, if you invest in an ESIC, you may be eligible for a non-refundable carried forward tax offset and modified capital gains tax (CGT) treatment.
See Tax incentives for innovation and Tax incentives for early stage investors on the ATO website.
What do you need to qualify?
- You must have purchased new shares in a company that meets the requirements of an ESIC, immediately after the shares are issued
- Shares issued on or after 1 July 2016
- You must be a sophisticated investor.
You can record and store more than one ESIC acquisition.
What is a sophisticated investor?
A sophisticated investor is prescribed by the Corporations Regulations 2001. Such an investor must demonstrate that they have had a gross annual income of $250,000 or more in each of the previous two years, or have net assets of at least $2.5 million.
You can do this if:
- A qualified accountant issued you a certificate confirming that you met the asset and income requirements described above. The certificate date should be no more than six months prior to the qualifying shares being offered to you.
- You have paid at least $500,000 for the qualifying shares (either as a single offer or including any amounts you have previously paid for shares of the same class that you hold in the same company)
- A financial services licensee has offered you the qualifying shares. The licensee must check that you have previous investment experience. You also have to sign a written acknowledgement that the licensee hasn't given you a disclosure document relating to the offer.
- You meet the requirements of being a professional investor under the Corporations Act 2001 (for example, a financial services licensee)
- You have or control gross assets of at least $10 million (including any assets held by an associate or a trust that you manage.
If you don't meet the requirements of the sophisticated investor test for at least one of your 2016-17 investments in a qualifying ESIC, your investment amount can't exceed $50,000.
Claiming the ESI offset
When you've entered the details in the worksheet, we'll calculate the offset and include any allowable amount in the F4 estimate. We'll also carry forward the excess (if any) and hold it available for use in a future year.
We've created the esi as a multiple transaction worksheet for recording and storing the details of your clients' early stage investor company (ESIC) acquisitions. See Tax incentives for early stage investors on the ATO website.
Tax pre-fill for individuals
For individual investors, use the Pre-fill Manager to help you complete the worksheet. See Pre-fill Manager.
There are variations to the layout of the esi, as different rules apply to different return types.
ESI worksheet examples for different returns
Early stage investor tax offset worksheet (esi) Company
Early stage investor tax offset worksheet (esi) Fund and Self-managed Fund
Early stage investor tax offset worksheet (esi) Individual
Early stage investor tax offset worksheet (esi) Trust
Early stage investor tax offset (esi) Partnership