SEIS3 and EIS3 certificates

After HMRC approves your compliance statement, it sends the company an authorisation to issue certificates, along with a unique investment reference for the share issue. The company then produces one SEIS3 or EIS3 per investor. HMRC does not do this for you, and investors cannot claim without it.

The investor's name, the company's name, the amount subscribed, the number and class of shares, the date of issue, the unique investment reference, and the HMRC office reference. The figures have to match the compliance statement exactly. A mismatch normally surfaces months later when the investor's claim is queried.

Most investors attach the details to the additional information pages of their self assessment return for the tax year of the share issue, or carry the relief back to the previous year. Investors who do not file a return can send the claim form on the certificate to HMRC and have their tax code adjusted instead. Either way, they keep the certificate.

We prepare a clean, checked certificate for every investor in the round alongside the compliance statement filing, at £50 per investor. You send them out and the chasing emails stop.

Who issues SEIS3 and EIS3 certificates?

The company does, using the authorisation HMRC sends back after approving the compliance statement. HMRC does not send certificates to investors directly.

What does an investor do with the certificate?

They use the unique investment reference and the details on it to claim relief through their self assessment return, or by asking HMRC to adjust their PAYE code.

How far back can an investor claim?

Income tax relief can generally be claimed up to five years after 31 January following the tax year of the share issue, and SEIS and EIS relief can be carried back one year.