Hoopla Animation Ltd v HMRC

In Hoopla Animation Ltd v HMRC [2023] UKFTT 24 (TC) (3 January 2023) the FTT dismissed the company’s appeal against HMRC’s decision not to allow it to issue compliance certificates under the enterprise investment scheme (EIS). A substantial proportion of the money raised by the share issues was paid to or for the benefit of one of the parties to the arrangements. Hoopla Animation Ltd (HA) was formed by a group of companies (the CHF Group) to exploit the intellectual property rights in a pre-school cartoon concept created by an employee of the group. Two directors of the group held A shares entitled to 50% of the profits with B shares to be issued to investors under the seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) and EIS. Development and production work was subcontracted to a group member. HMRC had accepted that initial tranches of shares qualified for the SEIS and then...