EIS and SEIS claim deadlines, explained (and how angels miss them)
Updated 13 July 2026 · Tero
SEIS and EIS relief is generous, but it is not automatic. Three dates decide whether you actually get the money, and two of them are commonly missed.
You cannot claim anything until the company sends you a SEIS3 or EIS3 certificate, which it can only do after HMRC approves its compliance statement. Companies routinely take months, and early-stage founders forget. If you invested more than six months ago and have no certificate, chase it.
You must claim within five years of the 31 January following the tax year of your investment. Concretely: invest any time in the 2023/24 tax year (6 April 2023 – 5 April 2024) and the clock runs to 31 January 2030. It sounds like forever; portfolios of ten-plus positions across many tax years are exactly where one quietly expires.
Sell, gift, or receive value back within three years of the investment and HMRC claws the relief back. If an exit conversation starts at month 30, the relief is part of the negotiation maths.
For each position, record: investment date, tax year (mind the 6 April boundary), certificate received or chased, claim filed, and the three-year date. A spreadsheet works. Tero's relief tracker does it automatically: it flags missing certificates, computes each claim-by date, and shows your true net downside per position.
Information, not tax advice. Rates and windows are as published by HMRC at the time of writing; confirm your own position with your accountant.
1. The certificate (no date, but everything waits on it)
You cannot claim anything until the company sends you a SEIS3 or EIS3 certificate, which it can only do after HMRC approves its compliance statement. Companies routinely take months, and early-stage founders forget. If you invested more than six months ago and have no certificate, chase it.
2. The claim window: five years, precisely defined
You must claim within five years of the 31 January following the tax year of your investment. Concretely: invest any time in the 2023/24 tax year (6 April 2023 – 5 April 2024) and the clock runs to 31 January 2030. It sounds like forever; portfolios of ten-plus positions across many tax years are exactly where one quietly expires.
3. The clawback: three years
Sell, gift, or receive value back within three years of the investment and HMRC claws the relief back. If an exit conversation starts at month 30, the relief is part of the negotiation maths.
The practical system
For each position, record: investment date, tax year (mind the 6 April boundary), certificate received or chased, claim filed, and the three-year date. A spreadsheet works. Tero's relief tracker does it automatically: it flags missing certificates, computes each claim-by date, and shows your true net downside per position.
Information, not tax advice. Rates and windows are as published by HMRC at the time of writing; confirm your own position with your accountant.
Tero runs these checks automatically.
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