How to claim your EIS tax relief

Maybe you’ve invested in an EIS qualifying company or perhaps you’ve invested in a knowledge intensive fund or two? Now you’re getting ready to claim EIS and receive a whopping 30% of your investment back as an EIS tax relief. But before you can do that, you’ll need one crucial document – the EIS3 certificate.

What better feeling!? 

But now you’re probably wondering, how do I actually go about claiming? Well, let’s have a look..

What is EIS?

First of all, EIS stands for Enterprise Investment Scheme. It is one of the four government schemes designed to help small companies grow. 

The others are:

• Venture Capital Trust (VCT)
• Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS)
• Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR)

The EIS is authorised and regulated by the financial conduct authority.

For a company to be EIS eligible, it must meet this criteria:

• Permanent establishment in the United Kingdom
• Isn’t trading on a recognised stock exchange
• Has less than £15 million in gross assets
• Has less than 250 full-time employees
• Doesn’t control any other companies (exceptions apply)
• Has no plans to close in the foreseeable future

Read more about this here.

Information you need to have to claim EIS

Before doing anything, make sure you have these bits of information to hand:

• The names of the companies that you invested into
• The date on which the shares were issued to your name
• Amounts you invested in each company 
• The HMRC office that authorised the issue of the EIS3 certificate

Where you can get this information

1. Your EIS3 certificate

An EIS3 certificate is an official document issued by HMRC that confirms your eligibility to claim EIS relief. It contains essential details such as the amount you invested, the date of investment, and the HMRC office that approved the issuance. Without an EIS3 certificate, you won’t be able to claim your tax relief.

The company you invested in must have been actively trading for at least four months before they can apply for EIS3 certificates. Once approved, they will distribute them to their investors-  i.e. you.

If you used an agency or platform for your EIS investments then you should receive the EIS3 certificate from them instead.

2. Your Share EIS3 Certificate

This is the document that proves you’re a shareholder in the business.

Normally the company you invested in must have also issued you one before you receive your EIS3 certificate.

What you need to do next

When you’re filing your annual income tax return you must claim the EIS tax relief by filling in the “other tax reliefs” section on your Additional Information (SA101) pages.

Enter the total amount invested on section 2 of that page:

At the bottom of this page you’ll need to provide the information that is listed at the top of this article for each company you invested in:

🔥 Risk warning: before making any investment decisions, consider the full risk and seek investment or tax advice where necessary. 

Still a bit unsure?

We know just how stressful the process of claiming any sort of tax relief in your self assessment can be. That’s why we at TaxScouts are more than happy to take care of this for you. Just leave it to us!

With your EIS3 certificate in hand, claiming your EIS relief is simple, so don’t miss out on what’s yours!