Advance assurance, compliance statements and investor certificates done right.
SEIS and EIS accounting is where a single missed condition can cost your investors their tax relief and your raise its momentum. Zmartly handles the full lifecycle for UK startups and SMEs: advance assurance, share issues, the compliance statements HMRC actually requires, and the SEIS3/EIS3 certificates your investors need to claim. ACCA-qualified, fixed-fee, with a named accountant who knows the small print that generalists get wrong.
We prepare and submit your advance assurance application to HMRC so prospective investors have confidence the round qualifies before they commit. This means a clean business plan, share structure, use-of-funds breakdown and details of named or prospective investors packaged the way HMRC's Venture Capital Reliefs team expects, cutting back-and-forth and avoiding the rejections that stall a raise.
Before you spend money raising, we stress-test the company against the SEIS and EIS conditions: qualifying trade, UK permanent establishment, gross-assets and employee limits, age-of-trade rules, and the independence and control tests. We flag dealbreakers early, such as substantial non-qualifying activities or a group structure that needs unwinding, so you don't discover the problem after shares are issued.
Once shares are issued and the qualifying spend or trading conditions are met, we file the SEIS1/EIS1 compliance statement with HMRC and, on authorisation, issue the SEIS3/EIS3 certificates your investors use to claim relief. We track the timing carefully because relief cannot be claimed until the certificates are in investors' hands, and getting this wrong is the most common cause of investor complaints.
Most early-stage companies use SEIS first (up to a £250,000 raise, 50% income tax relief for investors) and move to EIS as they grow (30% relief, with the gross-assets limit rising). We model the optimal split across a single round or sequential rounds, keep you inside the SEIS lifetime limit, and make sure the SEIS money is genuinely spent before EIS shares are issued.
SEIS and EIS relief depends on shares being full-risk ordinary shares, paid up in cash, with no preferential rights or pre-arranged exits. We handle the share-issue mechanics, board and shareholder paperwork, SH01 filing at Companies House, and a clean cap table, and coordinate the funding-round valuation so your option pool and EMI scheme sit correctly alongside the new investment.
Relief is only secured if conditions hold for three years after the shares are issued. We monitor the period for value-receipt, redemption and disqualifying-event risks, keep your bookkeeping on Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage, and prepare the corporation tax return and statutory accounts, including any R&D claim, alongside your investment so nothing inadvertently withdraws investor relief.
You work with one named, ACCA-qualified accountant who knows your raise, not a rotating support desk. SEIS and EIS work rewards continuity, because the person who structured the share issue is the right person to file the compliance statement two years later.
Transparent fixed fees of £99, £199 or £499 per month on a rolling monthly basis, with no tie-in. You know the cost before the work starts, which matters when you're managing a tight pre-revenue runway.
We reply to queries within 72 hours, so time-sensitive questions during a live raise don't sit unanswered. Every engagement carries a 30-day money-back guarantee, so trying us carries no risk.
Plenty of accountants can submit an EIS1. The value is in spotting what quietly disqualifies relief, a preferential share right, value received by an investor, money spent on a non-qualifying activity, before it becomes irreversible. That defensive eye is built into how we work.
We work in Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage, so your bookkeeping, cap table and year-end all stay in one place and your investor reporting stays clean as you scale from SEIS to EIS rounds.
Understanding your business needs.
Crafting your custom accounting strategy.
Quick and easy integration.
Consistent monitoring and reporting.
CT600 returns, computations, and strategic planning to legitimately reduce your liability.
Read morePersonal tax returns prepared, optimised, and filed for directors, sole traders, and high earners.
Read moreQuarterly planning calls that surface savings before deadlines, not after.
Read moreFull HMRC representation, documentation, and negotiation when an enquiry lands.
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SEIS allows up to £250,000 total in the first 3 years of trading, with the company having gross assets under £350,000 and fewer than 25 employees at investment. EIS allows up to £5m per year and £12m lifetime (£10m and £20m for knowledge-intensive companies). You can use SEIS first then EIS, we typically structure rounds to maximise both reliefs across staged investments.
SEIS investors get 50% income tax relief on up to £200,000 per year, plus CGT exemption on gains from the SEIS shares after 3 years, and 50% CGT reinvestment relief on disposals reinvested into SEIS. EIS gives 30% income tax relief on up to £1m per year (£2m if knowledge-intensive), CGT deferral, and loss relief against income if the company fails. These are the most generous startup investment reliefs anywhere in the OECD.
HMRC currently takes 4-12 weeks to respond, with the queue moving slower than it did pre-2023. The application needs the business plan, financial forecasts, draft pitch deck, articles, and at least one named potential investor. We prepare the whole pack and respond to any HMRC queries on your behalf. Without Advance Assurance, most professional investors won't commit, it's effectively a gating document.
Substantial changes to share rights, the company ceasing to trade, falling into excluded activities (property, financial trades, legal services, etc.), share buybacks, or value being returned to investors outside normal dividends. Disqualification triggers full clawback of investor relief, a guaranteed way to destroy your investor relationships. We monitor your filings, board minutes, and trading activity quarterly to catch issues before they bite.
We apply for compliance approval after the company has been trading for 4 months (or spent 70% of the raised funds, whichever is sooner). HMRC typically returns the EIS1 compliance certificate within 8-12 weeks, after which we issue SEIS3/EIS3 forms to each investor so they can claim their relief. Faster turnaround than waiting on solicitors, we handle the whole HMRC-side flow.
Thirty minutes with an ACCA-qualified accountant. Most owners uncover £1,000-£3,000 in annual savings on the first call. If we are not the right fit, you walk away with a free tax review on the house.
