Growth Shares: From Silk Road to Shareholder Rewards and Avoiding Inheritance Tax

Irish Tax Unwrapped

What do medieval guilds, ancient Chinese merchants, and modern Irish family businesses have in common? In this episode of Irish Tax Unwrapped, we explore how humans have motivated work, rewarded loyalty, and shared wealth — from the spice-laden markets of Chang’an, to the fields of feudal Europe and right up to today's boardrooms and tax planning meetings.

Join Josh, Daphne, and Derek as they unravel the story of growth shares — sleek, strategic equity tools that are revolutionising how companies incentivise staff and plan generational wealth transfers. The episode covers:-

• What are growth shares
• The income tax and CGT implications for employee shares generally and growth shares
• The estate planning benefits of growth shares for family companies
• How growth shares are valued
• The interaction of growth shares with inheritance tax ‘business relief’
• How growth shares achieve substantial tax savings in practice
• The importance of planning ahead

Along the way, we spotlight ancient joint-stock systems, dissect recent tax cases (hello, mental earmarking), and introduce a new segment: the Tax Relief Spotlight, kicking off with the Dwelling House Exemption.

If you’ve ever wondered what links a Tang Dynasty merchant with a modern-day founder — or how to pass on wealth without handing over a tax headache — this one’s for you.

Visit Coventure Tax Consulting for more information on tax matters.

Chapters

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Tax news - tax defaulters list and well known property developer (00:01:00)

3. Tax news - Northern Ireland company loses out on VAT reclaim (00:05:00)

4. Tax news - practising solicitor and mentalist loses tax appeal over gifts to son (00:07:03)

5. A history of equity and trade - introduction (00:12:20)

6. A history of equity and trade - the earliest known examples of equity (00:17:23)

7. A history of equity and trade - ancient trading (00:20:23)

8. Growth shares - what are they? (00:22:20)

9. Growth shares - the income tax and CGT implications? (00:23:25)

10. Growth shares - the estate planning benefits (00:24:50)

11. Growth shares - how are they valued (00:25:40)

12. Growth shares - interaction with inheritance tax 'business relief' (00:27:37)

13. Growth shares - how they achieve substantial tax savings in practice (00:29:15)

14. Growth shares - the importance of planning ahead (00:29:48)

15. Growth shares - summary of the case uses (00:30:22)

16. Tax relief spotlight - dwelling house exemption (00:32:01)