Venture Capital

In the course of other projects, Cameron developed expertise in the BC Venture Capital Program.  Part of the BC Equity Capital office, the VCC program awards refundable tax credits to investors in a wide range of industries, so long as the company meets program criteria.

For the Venture Capital Program, Eligible Businesses must be: 

  • Based in BC
  • have less than 100 employees at time of first investment
  • Engaged in business activities involving the manufacture, processing or exporting of goods produced in (or services provided from) B.C. to customers located outside the province of BC
  • Engaged in non-traditional agriculture
  • Engaged in business activities that support the growth of tourism in the province (various criteria)
  • Engaged in business activities involving research and development of proprietary technologies produced in B.C., including services associated with marketing or exporting the technologies inside or outside the province.
  •  A business located outside the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Capital Regional District may be engaged in a prescribed activity if the business activity promotes economic diversification within the region. This can include service businesses in some cases.
  • the development of interactive digital media product intended for commercial exploitation in British Columbia.

Activities That Are Not Prescribed Activities

The following business activities are specifically identified in section 11(2) of the
Regulations as not being prescribed eligible activities. They represent business activities that are already very well developed in British Columbia.

  • primary resource exploration or extraction,
  • financial services, such as providing loans, selling insurance or real estate, or trading in securities,
  • property management or the rental or leasing of land or improvements,
  • the development of or improvement of land,
  • traditional agricultural activities,
  • retail and commercial services other than services that are

i) exported outside British Columbia or replace imported services,
ii) provided by a business which derives more than 50% of its revenues from the provision of services to tourists, or
iii) provided by a regional business and promote community diversification within the region.

  • restaurant or food services,
  • the sale or lease of tangible or intangible personal property to a person for the person’s personal consumption or use. In the case of “retail sales”, a good or service is considered to be “retailed” if the transaction is with the ultimate consumer of the good or service.

B.C.’s Employee Share Ownership Program provides employees with a 20 per cent tax credit for making investments in their employers’ businesses. In most cases, investments can be made from or transferred to self-directed RRSPs, which can result in further tax benefits. The program also shares the costs of setting up a plan. The program is available to both privately held and publicly traded companies. The criteria is different than the criteria for the VCC program.

If you have a project that fits within the VCC or related programs (or can be made to creatively fit) then Cameron can help you structure the investment to ensure project approval and gain the tax credits. There are also ways to get RRSP (and other registered funds) into an eligible company while getting the refundable tax credits into the investor’s personal hands.

Refundable Tax Credits are a powerful incentive to investors.  Contact Cameron to discuss your business and how it can benefit from tax credit eligible investments.

Experience

Cameron created, structured, gained approval for, and operated these companies within the BC Equity Capital Programs resulting in over $2.3 million in refundable tax credits to his partners:

Cultus Lake Capital (VCC) Ltd – an investment club of about 45 investors that was formed for a particular recycling business investment we decided against. The group later invested in three projects, the most successful of which was Webtech Wireless.  As corporate secretary, Cameron set up the company and managed the VCC approval and reporting process to get refundable tax credits for the investors.

CR Capital (VCC) Ltd. – created to invest in a food processing plant.  All VCC management done by Cameron.

Legacy Pacific Capital (VCC) Ltd – created to invest in Legacy Cold Storage Ltd.  All VCC management done by Cameron.

The BC VCC program and related capital investment incentives continue today and there are unused allocations because not enough people know about the program or how to use it.