The tax reliefs available to investors via HMRC’s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) legislation are amongst the most successful tax-motivated investment and fundraising schemes introduced by a UK government.
As a nation of entrepreneur’s, these important tax reliefs are designed to encourage investment in start-up, scale-up and fast growth companies.
Based on current legislation, the maximum amount a qualifying company can raise in its lifetime is:
Ensuring compliance with the plethora of rules and conditions which must be met in order to qualify for these reliefs is absolutely key, which is where our experience matters.
Dependent upon timescales and where you are in your fundraising process, we can either help companies gain comfort that they qualify for the appropriate relief or alternatively obtain ‘advance assurance’ for the relevant investor tax relief scheme. Both routes require a similar level of analysis and information gathering, but the application for ‘advance assurance’ generally requires investors to be known and investment cannot be received until HMRC have considered the application.
There are surprisingly high rates of rejection by HMRC for advance assurance applications, so our experience of clearly setting out the required information to assist HMRC to reach their decision means that you can be confident that your application will be robust.
We advise clients on how to maximise the benefits of all three schemes available in combination as well as individually. We also review and provide advice on Articles and shareholder and investment agreements, prospectuses and marketing documents and complete and submitCompliance Statements to ensure that all these meet HMRC expectations.
From an investor perspective, we work with individuals and EIS / VCT funds to ensure their investments will qualify and result in the desired tax reliefs arising upon investment and exit.
Providing SEIS and EIS opinions to companies seeking comfort on their qualifying status
Provide advice on structuring investment so as not to preclude companies from meeting qualifying conditions
Preparation of SEIS and EIS Advance Assurance applications to HMRC
End to end SEIS, EIS and VCT compliance support for individuals, companies and funds
Key Contact
Sonia Hands
Associate Partner
I’m a Chartered Tax Adviser with over 20 years’ experience in the tax profession in Big Four, Mid-Tier firms and Industry. I joined Claritas Birmingham in April 2016 and I’ve enjoyed coming to work every day since.
To find out more about what we do, please get in touch.
