Applying for SEIS advance assurance takes about a week of preparation and four to six weeks of waiting on HMRC. Most of the difficulty sits in the week before you submit, not in the form itself. This is the sequence we use, in order, and the points where first-time applications fail.
Written by Godwin Pinto ACA (ICAI), member of ICPA, founder of AccTek and formerly of PwC. This is a practical walkthrough for founders preparing their own application, or preparing to hand one to an adviser.
None of the steps below matter if these three are not true. Check them first.
The company must already be incorporated at Companies House and have received its Unique Taxpayer Reference from HMRC. The advance assurance service is not a registration service — you cannot apply for a company you intend to form. The UTR arrives by post after incorporation, usually within a couple of weeks. If you are timing a raise, incorporate early enough that the UTR is not the thing holding you up.
This is the single most common reason a first-time application is rejected. HMRC does not accept speculative applications from companies that have never raised under SEIS, EIS, VCT or SITR. You must give the name and address of each prospective investor and the amount each intends to invest.
HMRC is explicit that naming one or two people who between them account for a small share of the round is not enough. You have to demonstrate a serious expectation that named individuals will invest the amounts stated. A £150,000 target backed by one friend who might contribute £2,000 will not clear the bar.
One application can cover both schemes. If you are using both, the SEIS shares must be issued before any EIS shares where both fall in the same accounting period — getting that order wrong can cost the SEIS relief entirely. Most founders exhaust the £250,000 SEIS allowance first because 50% relief is a stronger hook than 30%.
Work through the SEIS conditions before you write anything. If one of these fails, the application fails.
The excluded activities list catches more founders than expected: dealing in land or shares, banking and financial services, legal and accountancy services, property development, farming, running hotels or nursing homes, and most forms of energy generation. If any meaningful part of what you do sits near one of these, plan to address it directly in the application.
This is the document HMRC uses to decide whether you are seriously raising or speculatively applying. Set it out plainly:
If you are raising through a fund manager, promoter or platform, you must disclose it and provide evidence of their engagement — emails or letters showing the relationship is real and progressing. It is not enough to show you approached a platform; there must be confirmation that the platform accepts you may be a viable investment for its customers.
Non-disclosure of an intermediary invalidates any assurance HMRC gives. That is worse than a refusal, because you may not discover it until investors are trying to claim.
HMRC gives an assurance only on the basis of what you supply, and does not generally check the accuracy or completeness of your information. A thin pack produces a thin answer, or a round of questions that adds a month.
| Document | What HMRC is looking for |
|---|---|
| Business plan | A real commercial plan showing growth intent, not a pitch deck |
| Financial forecasts | How the money raised will be spent and over what period |
| Latest statutory accounts | Only if the company has filed any |
| Memorandum and articles | Current version, plus any amendments proposed for the round |
| Share details | Class, number, price and the rights attaching to the new shares |
| Investor schedule | Names, addresses, intended amounts |
| Group structure | Any subsidiaries, and who controls whom |
| Prior funding | Previous share issues, other state aid received |
| Letter of authorisation | Signed by the company, where an agent applies on your behalf |
The narrative describing what your company does is the part most likely to generate follow-up questions, and the part founders spend the least time on. Two things matter.
Describe the trade, not the vision. HMRC is matching your activity against the excluded activities list. “We are building the operating system for European logistics” tells them nothing. “We license software to freight forwarders on an annual subscription” tells them what they need.
Flag the awkward bit yourself. HMRC asks companies to give full and open information and to highlight areas of doubt. The instinct is to smooth over anything borderline. In practice, naming a marginal issue and explaining your position resolves faster than leaving HMRC to find it and come back to you. If part of your revenue looks like financial services, say so and explain why the substance is different.
Beyond the mechanical tests sits a judgement call. The company must be seeking to grow and develop over the long term, and the investment must carry a genuine risk of losing capital greater than the expected net return. Your application has to state that you meet it.
Structures that look engineered to deliver relief with the risk stripped out fail this, regardless of how well they satisfy the arithmetic. Evidence growth intent concretely: hiring plans, product roadmap, market you are entering, what the money buys.
Applications go to HMRC’s Venture Capital Reliefs team through the online advance assurance service. By submitting, you are also confirming that the company will be able to complete the statutory declaration on the SEIS1 compliance statement when the shares are eventually issued — a forward-looking undertaking about future behaviour, not just a description of where you are today.
Where an adviser submits on your behalf, HMRC requires a signed letter of authorisation from the company, dated recently. A fund manager cannot apply on a company’s behalf.
HMRC frequently comes back once with questions. A fast, complete reply is often the difference between a two-week and a two-month round trip. Keep the person who wrote the application available — a partial answer usually generates a second round.
The response is normally a statement of whether, on the information provided, HMRC would be able to authorise the company to issue SEIS certificates once a satisfactorily completed compliance statement is received.
Put it in the data room and share it with investors. Be accurate about what it means when you do — sophisticated angels know the difference, and overstating it costs credibility:
| Stage | Typical duration | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Incorporation to UTR arriving | 1–2 weeks | HMRC |
| Assembling the pack and investor schedule | 3 days to 2 weeks | You |
| Preparing and submitting the application | 2 working days with AccTek | Your adviser |
| HMRC review | 4–6 weeks | HMRC |
| Follow-up questions, if any | 1–4 weeks | Both |
Apply at least eight weeks before your target close. That leaves room for one round of questions without derailing the raise. Periods around the end of the tax year run longer. No adviser controls HMRC’s timetable — anyone guaranteeing a clearance turnaround is guaranteeing something that is not theirs to give.
Advance assurance gets the money in. The compliance step delivers the relief, and it carries the real deadline.
Diarise SEIS1 on the day the shares are issued. Two years feels comfortable until nobody remembers the form exists, and the cost of missing it lands on your investors rather than on you.
Raising on SEIS? AccTek prepares and submits advance assurance applications on a two-working-day turnaround from complete information, and handles the SEIS1 filing and SEIS3 certificates afterwards. Book a free consultation or get an instant quote.
General information for UK founders based on SEIS rules for the 2026/27 tax year and HMRC’s published guidance, current at the date of writing. Advance assurance is discretionary and non-statutory, and tax reliefs depend on individual circumstances. This is not tax advice — speak to an accountant about your specific position. Official guidance: applying for advance assurance and applying to use SEIS. AccTek Ltd is independent and is not affiliated with HMRC or GOV.UK.
Godwin Pinto ACA (ICAI) is the founder of AccTek and a member of ICPA, with 20+ years of experience in accounting and tax for contractors, startups and SMEs. Previously at PwC.
AccTek is a member firm of the Institute of Certified Practising Accountants (ICPA). Our accountants have a wide range of qualifications and accreditations from trusted professional bodies such as the AAT, ICPA, and ACCA.
