The “Finance Act 2010-12 to 2012-13”, as it’s affectionately known in certain circles, has received Royal Assent as of July 17th – 20 days ago.
This means that it is now possible to file SEIS Assurance Advance forms to get some reassurance for your investors that the investment will qualify for SEIS.
What should you file along with the form is listed on the form:
- Latest company accounts and accounts of any subsidiary (most likely neither of those exist)
- Details of what sort of trade the company or subsidiaries will carry out
- Latest draft of prospectus/business plan issued to investors
- Up to date copy of Memorandum and Articles of Association
- Details of any agreements that the shareholders have entered into (e.g. a Shareholders Agreement)
- “Any other information relevant to this application” – i.e. anything you think may disqualify the company. If it passes the Assurance Advance stage, then it should be fine later. If you hide it at this stage, it may come back to haunt you later.
- Details of any “De Minimis” aid receives. The EU has regulations that limit how much assistance a single company can receive from the UK government. If you’re receiving grants or tax credits, you need to mention those.
- A statement confirming that the company hasn’t previously done a share issue under EIS or VCT.
Unlike the EIS1 form that is filed as part of the Compliance Statement, the Advance Assurance form doesn’t require any accounting details.
It’s worth adding that as of the last reports, HMRC had a turnaround time of several weeks for the advance assurance forms.
