Does my company qualify for the scheme?

Generally speaking, most companies will qualify for SEIS or EIS. 

Companies that undertake the following business activities do not qualify:

• Dealing in land, commodities and financial instruments
• Financial activities such as banking, insurance and financing
• Providing legal or accountancy services
• Property development
• Operating or managing hotels or nursing/care homes

It is possible to undertake one of the business activities and still qualify, but the above activity would need to form 20% or less of the combined company's activities.

In order to qualify for SEIS or EIS, companies must tick all of these qualifying criteria:

• Unquoted limited company (AIM listed companies are eligible)
• Less than 25 full-time employees
• Gross assets of less than £200,000
• Must not be controlled by another company
• Subsidiary companies must be qualifying companies
• Carry on a qualifying trade (see list of excluded business activities above)
• Be UK resident or have a permanent establishment in the UK

The following conditions apply to SEIS companies only:

• Any trade carried on by the company must be less than two years old 
• Had no investment from a Venture Capital Trust (VCT) or benefited from the EIS scheme