Q: How are SEIS/EIS Compliance and Advance Assurance different?

SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance is confirmation from HMRC for your investors that your company is eligible for SEIS or EIS funding. Before you offer SEIS or EIS investment opportunities, you should apply to HMRC for SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance with SeedLegals. SEIS/EIS Compliance is the official certification from HMRC that investments in your company qualify for the scheme (i.e. your company is SEIS/EIS compliant). For your company to remain SEIS/EIS compliant, you must stay eligible and follow the scheme rules for at least three years after the investment(s), otherwise, HMRC can withhold or withdraw the tax reliefs from your investors. You can read more about how SEIS and EIS work on the HMRC website.

Question 1

What are SEIS and EIS?

Accepted Answer

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are UK government initiatives which grant private investors a significant tax break when investing in early-stage, ‘high-risk’ companies.

Most investors in the UK will only invest in these types of companies if they are SEIS/EIS compliant, so it should be a priority for founders seeking investment.
You can learn more in our SEIS and EIS essential read for UK startups and Our complete guide to SEIS.

Question 2

What's the difference between SEIS and EIS?

Accepted Answer

Both the SEIS and EIS encourage investment in UK businesses. The difference between the schemes is the type of company they cover, and how much tax relief investors get.

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme is for investments in early-stage companies.

The Enterprise Investment Scheme is for investments in medium-sized startups.

With both schemes, investors can invest in qualifying companies in return for Income Tax relief. For SEIS, they can invest up to £100,000 per tax year for 40% tax relief.
For EIS, it’s up to £1 million per tax year for 30% tax relief.

For both SEIS and EIS, investors pay no Capital Gains Tax on any profit they make from selling their shares, as long as they’ve held the shares for at least three years.

Learn more in our Our complete guide to SEIS.

Question 3

What are the changes to SEIS from April 2023?

Accepted Answer

In autumn 2022, the government announced changes to the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, to come into effect from 6 April 2023:

raise up to £250,000 in SEIS investment (up from £150,000)
raise with SEIS for up to three years from when you first started trading (up from two years)
raise SEIS with company gross assets up to £350,000 (previously £200,000)
individual investors can now invest up to £200,000 in any tax year (up from £100,000)

For the full details, read our post: Raise £250K SEIS now - but wait until July to do SEIS Compliance

Question 4

How are SEIS/EIS Compliance and Advance Assurance different?

Accepted Answer

SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance is confirmation from HMRC for your investors that your company is eligible for SEIS or EIS funding. Before you offer SEIS or EIS investment opportunities, you should apply to HMRC for SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance with SeedLegals.

SEIS/EIS Compliance is the official certification from HMRC that investments in your company qualify for the scheme (i.e. your company is SEIS/EIS compliant).

For your company to remain SEIS/EIS compliant, you must stay eligible and follow the scheme rules for at least three years after the investment(s), otherwise, HMRC can withhold or withdraw the tax reliefs from your investors.

You can read more about how SEIS and EIS work on the HMRC website.

Question 5

Do all my investors need an SEIS/EIS compliance certificate?

Accepted Answer

It depends. For an investor to get SEIS/EIS tax relief, they must meet certain criteria, so it’s possible not all of your investors will qualify.

For more about the SEIS/EIS eligibility criteria for investors, read our article: SEIS and EIS rules for startup investors.

Question 6

When can investors claim their SEIS/EIS relief?

Accepted Answer

Investors can claim their SEIS/EIS tax relief for the tax year their shares were issued. To keep your investors happy, it’s smart to do your SEIS/EIS compliance promptly - your investors need their certificates to complete their tax returns and get the tax relief.

Question 7

I'm raising £250,000 in SEIS investment. When should I do SEIS compliance?

Accepted Answer

To make the most of the new increased limit for SEIS fundraising, you can raise up to £250,000 as long as the shares are issued on or after 6 April 2023.

But because this change to SEIS is still going through Parliament, it hasn't yet officially become law so you'll need to wait to do SEIS compliance. If you send your compliance application before the law has been updated, HMRC will reject your application. We expect Parliament to approve the changes around July 2023.

For your investors, they'll still get their tax relief in the same tax year, but they'll need to wait until you're able to do the SEIS compliance to get their certificate.

For the full details, read our post: Raise £250K SEIS now - but wait until July to do SEIS Compliance

Question 8

I have multiple investors - do I have to pay more to do SEIS/EIS compliance with SeedLegals?

Accepted Answer

No. Whether you have one investor or one thousand investors, our SEIS/EIS compliance service costs the same. When you have authorisation from HMRC, you can issue certificates on SeedLegals for as many investors as you like.

Question 9

Help! I’m stuck with SEIS/EIS compliance!

Accepted Answer

We can help. Hit the chat button to message our friendly team. We do more SEIS/EIS compliance than anyone else - we can help get your SEIS/EIS compliance done quickly and easily.

Startups made easy. Sorted.

About us

Mission & values

Careers

Partners

Perks

Contact

Media

SEIS/EIS compliance

SEIS/EIS compliance made simple

SEIS/EIS compliance - the fast way

Free up your time

Simplify the workflow

Use the UK’s #1 service

SEIS/EIS tax relief made easy

Get your investors their tax relief, without hours of paperwork

SEIS/EIS compliance certificate

All the documents you need - reviewed by legal experts

5-star customer service

Unlimited help from our SEIS/EIS experts

How to do SEIS/EIS compliance on SeedLegals

Start SEIS/EIS compliance

Fill in the questionnaire

HMRC send SEIS2/EIS2 form

SEIS/EIS certificates are ready

Share certificates with investors

FAQs

You’re in safe hands

Beautifully organised

Secure signatures

Backed by real lawyers

Serious about security

Helpful humans

Extra protection

We’ve helped over 60,000 companies

Louise Doherty

Alex Templeton

Alex Rainey

Alexander Wyndham

Darren Tenkorang

Emilie Vanpoperinghe

Funding Guides

Find Investors

Start your journey with us

SEIS/EIS
compliance - the fast way

We’ve helped over 60,000
companies