Whether you are applying for advance assurance or submitting a compliance statement, you can apply for either scheme all year round. When it comes to these schemes, there are no submission deadlines, although it is recommended to be aware of the impending UK tax year-end, i.e. 5th of April.   

Investors will typically want to have their investment certificates before April each year to finalise their financial planning before the end of the tax year. From an industry perspective, I would suggest submitting any SEIS or EIS applications before February to make sure investment or investment certificates (SEIS3/EIS3) are received before the tax year-end. It can take over 40 days for HMRC to reply to an application due to the high volume of applications the closer we get to the tax year-end. Therefore, if you intend on getting an application approved before the end of the tax year, it’s recommended to submit it nearer to the new year, ideally in November or December. 

Although there are no deadlines for submitting SEIS/EIS applications, the investment from the investment subscription must occur before the end of the tax year. Investors can only claim income tax relief for the year investment is made and the prior tax year. Therefore, the investment must occur before the end of the tax year, or they will not get relief for the current tax year and previous tax years. Investors can always get a refund of any tax paid, but they cannot retroactively invest in a company.

The relevant thing to note is that from January to April, HMRC is incredibly busy and can be pretty slow to respond. Therefore if companies delay submitting their SEIS/EIS applications and submit them too close to the tax year-end, investors run the risk of having to wait to finalise their tax planning.