Answer
Do I need an accountant for SEIS advance assurance?
No. HMRC will accept an advance assurance application from the company itself or from any agent acting for it, and there is no licensing requirement. Your accountant is valuable for the accounts and forecasts, but the application turns on scheme eligibility rather than bookkeeping, which is why specialists tend to file these faster and cleaner.
Who does what
| Task | Accountant | SEIS/EIS specialist |
|---|---|---|
| Statutory accounts and corporation tax | Yes | No |
| Forecasts and management numbers | Yes | Uses them |
| Eligibility against SEIS and EIS conditions | Sometimes | Yes |
| Risk-to-capital and excluded activity analysis | Sometimes | Yes |
| Drafting and filing the advance assurance pack | Sometimes | Yes |
| Answering HMRC's follow-up questions | Sometimes | Yes |
| SEIS1/EIS1 statements and SEIS3/EIS3 certificates | Sometimes | Yes |
Signs you want a specialist on it
- Prior grants, subsidies or de minimis state aid
- Any doubt about when the trade started or when the first commercial sale happened
- A group structure or subsidiaries
- An activity that sits near HMRC's excluded activities list
- Money partly funding an acquisition, licence buyout or debt repayment
- A raise combining SEIS and EIS in one round
We work alongside your accountant
We do not take over your accounting. We take the plan and the numbers you already have, review eligibility, file the application and deal with HMRC, for a fixed £449. Your accountant keeps doing the accounts.
Primary sources
What Mida OS actually does
We are a boutique SEIS and EIS consultancy in the UK. We check your eligibility, draft and file the advance assurance application with HMRC, and answer HMRC's questions until the letter arrives. Fixed fee of £449 for SEIS, EIS or both, and every application we have filed has been approved. After your round closes we file the SEIS1 or EIS1 compliance statement and issue SEIS3 and EIS3 certificates at £50 per investor.