Accountants for
University Spin-outs & Student Startups

When clients want to contract with a legal entity, when officers are being asked to carry personal liability, when work needs to continue across term breaks, or when the venture needs project insurance. Any one of those is usually enough. See the society vs limited company spoke.

For 2026, the sector average is 16%, down from 22% the year before. The TenU USIT bands recommend 10–25% for life sciences and IP-heavy spin-outs, and 5–10% for software. Terms outside these bands increasingly need justification. See the spin-out equity spoke.

A minority university equity stake is usually compatible with SEIS and EIS. The control test, the independence test and any corporate investor rules each need checking against the specific cap table. Preference shares and 51%+ parent structures are the usual blockers.

Usually no, if the shares are subscribed before the IP enters the company and a section 431 election is made within 14 days. Without those steps, the discount between what the founder paid and the market value can be taxed as employment income — potentially 45% plus NI.

Private company late-filing penalties for annual accounts start at £150 (up to one month late), rise through £375, £750 to £1,500 (more than six months), and are doubled if the previous year was also late. Confirmation statement failure is a criminal offence and a strike-off trigger if left for several months.

Over four weeks around the AGM. Week one: incoming shadows outgoing. Week two: AGM, Companies House filings (AP01, TM01, PSC updates), bank mandate update, Xero and password manager handover. Week three: open invoices, contracts and the deadline calendar reviewed together. Week four: incoming has sole access, outgoing on call. See the full handover spoke.

The new treasurer, backed by automated reminders in Xero and the client relationship manager named on the engagement letter. If a client has lost its named contact, re-establish the relationship explicitly: new email, new named contact, new confirmation of payment terms.

Not while holding a Student route visa. The Immigration Rules prohibit self-employment and business activity. Preparation (ideas, market research, business plans) is allowed. The Graduate visa (two years post-degree, three for PhDs) and the Innovator Founder route both permit starting and running a business. This is general information, not immigration advice.

A section 431 election is a joint election by employer and employee, filed within 14 days of share acquisition, that treats the shares as acquired at their unrestricted market value. It prevents future growth being taxed as income on a later sale. For spin-out founders, it is a near-automatic protective filing — and missing it is painful.

Usually yes. A minority university stake is compatible with SEIS and EIS. The usual blockers are preference shares, 51%+ parent structures, and university-linked corporate investors that fail independence tests. We review these before any advance assurance application. See SEIS advance assurance.

SEIS (50% income tax relief for investors, £250,000 lifetime company limit), EIS (30% relief, £10m annual / £24m lifetime company limits, higher for knowledge-intensive companies), the merged R&D scheme (20% expenditure credit, higher rate for R&D-intensive loss-making SMEs), EMI share options (CGT at 18% under BADR, 2026/27 lifetime limit £1m), and Innovate UK grants.

SEIS/EIS advance assurance support with a university shareholder on the cap table, s431 elections and Form ERS filings, cap-table structuring that keeps investor rounds clean, R&D claims under the merged scheme including contracted-out R&D where the university does the work, EMI schemes for early hires, and a committee-continuity model for student-run companies that outlasts each year's AGM. Work led by Godwin Pinto ACA (ICAI).