SEIS investment guide

Larger and more mature businesses will need to consider whether they can qualify for SEIS’s older sibling, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). We have a guide on that scheme available here. There is also a scheme which incentivises investment from Venture Capital Trusts (the VCT scheme).

This guide gives a summary of some of the key conditions which must be met to obtain the various reliefs. The full conditions are very wide-ranging and have evolved to counter various tax avoidance schemes and perceived abuses of the generous tax reliefs available. The gov.uk website contains a good description of all of the conditions and is helpfulfor those looking to investigate further.

SEIS is targeted at small, young companies, so it’s quite restrictive. However in return it is the most advantageous in terms of the tax benefits on offer.

SEIS investors can get income tax relief equal to up to 50% of their SEIS investments (up to £100,000 annually). For example, if an investor invests the maximum £100,000 they will get £50,000 of tax relief. So, if they have other income that gives rise to an income tax bill of £75,000 in that year, this bill will be reduced to £25,000 by the relief. If the whole relief cannot be used in the tax year of investment, there is scope to carry it back to the previous tax year.

There are also capital gains tax (CGT) reliefs, namely (1) 50% of any amount invested in SEIS shares can be set-off against the taxable gain on a completely separate asset in order to reduce the tax on that separate asset, and (2) sale of the SEIS shares after three years is also generally free from CGT.

SEIS reliefs are only available to individual investors (not companies or partnerships looking to invest). Because the reliefs are available against UK tax it will mostly be UK tax-resident individuals who are interested in investing for SEIS. You may also come across SEIS and / or EIS ‘funds’ – these are different to many fund investors because they use a nominee structure, so that the ‘fund’ investment is in effect lots of investments from the individuals participating in the structure.

The investment itself should be for ordinary shares which are fully paid-up for cash. The maximum amount of SEIS money which one company can receive in a year is £150,000. It’s important to take care with the investment process. For example, individuals won’t be able to benefit from SEIS if they lend money to the company, with a plan to convert it into shares in due course. The SEIS shares must be issued immediately in exchange for a fresh injection of cash.

Companies looking to accept SEIS investment can seek advance assurance from HMRC that the proposed investment will qualify by writing to them with full details. This is not compulsory, but some investors may insist that advance assurance is obtained as a way of getting comfort that they will receive the expected tax reliefs. HMRC provide details of the process, and forms for EIS/SEIS advance assurance, on their website. However, HMRC’s policy is only to accept clearance applications from companies which have already lined up (and can name) the prospective investors. Clearance cannot therefore be obtained speculatively.

Once the investment has been made, SEIS investors will need a certificate from the company in order to be able to claim the tax reliefs through their self-assessment. In order for the company to have the authority to issue these certificates, it must formally request HMRC’s permission using form SEIS1. In order to be able to submit a form SEIS1 the company must either: