Can I still claim Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR)?

Full answer

Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) was a scheme that encouraged individuals to invest in social enterprises, charities, and community businesses, by giving tax relief on qualifying shares or debt investments. The important point for anyone asking today is that SITR closed to new investment from 6 April 2023. You cannot make a new SITR investment now, so the relief is no longer a forward-looking planning option. While it was open, SITR gave Income Tax relief of 30% of the amount invested, set against your Income Tax bill, plus the ability to defer a Capital Gains Tax liability by reinvesting a gain into a qualifying social investment, and CGT exemption on the SITR investment itself if held long enough. It sat alongside EIS and SEIS but was specifically aimed at the social sector. Who this affects now: people who invested under SITR before the closure date. If you still hold a qualifying investment, the reliefs you already claimed are not automatically lost - but they remain conditional. You normally had to hold the investment for at least three years; disposing of it early, or the social enterprise losing its qualifying status within the relevant period, can trigger withdrawal or clawback of the Income Tax relief and crystallise any deferred gain. Deferred gains generally come back into charge on a later disposal or other chargeable event. Because SITR is closed, the practical question is usually about exit: when you sell or the investment ends, you need to check whether any deferred CGT becomes payable and whether you have met the minimum holding period. For 2026/27, CGT is charged at 18% within the basic-rate band and 24% above it, with a GBP 3,000 Annual Exempt Amount. This card does not hold the historic SITR investment caps, so confirm the detailed legacy rules and any clawback triggers on gov.uk. Use the capital gains tax calculator to estimate tax on a disposal or a crystallising deferred gain.

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