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This book examines tax incentives for investors in start-up companies through a critical analysis of Australia´s early-stage investors (ESI) program, and a comparison of that program with the United Kingdom´s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) upon which it is loosely modelled. It discusses the importance of innovation and the special role that venture capital plays in supporting start-ups, and explains the policy rationale for introducing the ESI program as well as dissecting its technical requirements in detail. Special attention is devoted to the program´s ´early stage´ and ´innovation´ requirements, which are crucial for determining whether a start-up qualifies for the tax incentives.

The book is the first in-depth scholarly legal analysis of the ESI program and the first occasion it has been compared and contrasted with a foreign program. The comparative discussion of the ESI program with the SEIS program enables the authors to make suggestions for reforms to the ESI program so that it can better achieve its policy objectives. The fact that the book includes reform suggestions makes it particularly interesting for policy makers. It is also of broad relevance to legal and finance scholars and students as well as entrepreneurs, angels, venture capitalists and their advisors.

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Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Start-ups and venture capital investment.- Chapter 3. Tax incentives to encourage formal venture capital investment.- Chapter 4. ESI program.- Chapter 5. United Kingdom Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.- Chapter 6. Suggestions for reform.- Chapter 7. Conclusion.

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Stephen Barkoczy is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and a member of the International Faculty of the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria. He has lectured, researched, and practised widely in the areas of taxation, superannuation, and venture capital investment law and has an international reputation as a scholar in these areas. He is the author/co-author of many books and the recipient of numerous major university and national teaching awards, including Australia´s most prestigious teaching award, the Prime Minister´s Award for Australian University Teacher of the Year.

Tamara Wilkinson is a Sessional Lecturer, Researcher and PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research and teaching focuses on Australian innovation and venture capital law, government venture capital incentives and private investment law.

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