What is the application process?

The SEIS is administered by HMRC through the Small Company Enterprise Centre (SCEC). The SCEC makes the decision on whether a company qualifies under the scheme.

Companies can apply to the SCEC for advance approval of their proposed share issue. This is not compulsory but is recommended to give investors comfort that their investment is going to qualify for the various tax reliefs. The response time from the SCEC is between four and six weeks.

Once the shares are issued, whether or not advance approval has been sought, the company (or their advisors) complete a SEIS1 form and submits it to the SCEC. This cannot be done until the company has been trading for four months or has spent at least 70% of the money raised from the share issue. The SCEC usually take between four and six weeks to process the SEIS1 form. 

If the SCEC approves the company’s application for SEIS they will issue an SEIS2 form (the approval certificate) and SEIS3 forms to pass to the investors. 

The SEIS3 forms enable the investors to claim their tax relief. The investors claim their tax relief through their annual self-assessment tax return once they have received the SEIS3 form or by completing their SEIS3 form and sending it to HMRC.

The application process for EIS is exactly the same as that for SEIS.