Section 44: Business investment relief.

(1) A deduction known as business investment relief shall be allowed to a resident individual if—a) he subscribes on his own behalf for qualifying in an eligible company either directly or through a business investment relief fund approved by the Commissioner, b) neither he nor an associate of his is a landlord, employee, partner or loan creditor of the company or any associate of the company; and c) he together with his associates has less than thirty percent of the voting shares in or rights in a distribution of the assets of the company. (2) The relief shall be— a) given by deduction of the relevant amount from the individual's chargeable income; b) given in the year the qualifying shares are issued or, to the extent claimed in writing to the Commissioner at the time of the claim, in the following year; and c) limited in each year to the relevant amount specified in paragraph 7 of the Ninth Schedule. (3) In this section, “qualifying shares” means shares certified by the company to be newly issued ordinary shares which for a period of five years, beginning with the date of issue, carry no present or future preferential rights to dividends, redemption or assets in a liquidation. (4) in this section an "eligible company” means a company which— a) is resident and not exempt from income taxation in Sierra Leone; b) intends to receive and receives most of its income as business income wholly or mainly within Sierra Leone; c) is in receipt of business income on the date the qualifying shares are issued or begins to receive business income within two years of that date; d) continues to receive business income during the period (known in this section as the “qualifying period") of five years from the later of the date of issue of the qualifying shares or the first receipt of business income; e) raises less than fifty percent of its share capital from the issue of shares to potential claimants of business investment relief; and f) within three years after the commencement of the qualifying period does not take over a business, part of a business or the greater part of the assets of a business. (5) Relief given shall be withdrawn by assessment in the year in which— a) the individual ceases to qualify for relief; b) the shares cease to be qualifying shares; c) the company to be an eligible company, or d) the shares cease to belong beneficially to the claimant due to his death or to the winding up of the company for bona fide commercial reasons, at the rate of twenty percent for each year or part year remaining of the relevant period. (6) Where the claimant otherwise than under paragraph (d) of subsection (5) disposes of the qualifying shares or an interest in the shares within the relevant period— a) at arm’s length, the relief given shall be reduced by the amount of consideration received; or b) at other than arm's length, the relief given shall be withdrawn, by assessment for the year or years in which relief was given as if relief had been claimed incorrectly. TAX A CCOUNTING P RINCIPLES