The EIS paper trail: which records to keep, and for how long

The EIS3/SEIS3 certificate - above all the unique investment reference (UIR), which identifies the subscription to HMRC.

Subscription evidence - the payment record and any subscription agreement, showing the amount and date the money went in.

The share issue date - it starts the three-year clock, and it is not always the day you paid.

The amount subscribed and the number and class of shares.

Your claim record - which tax year you claimed against (including any carry-back), and where in the return it went.

Disposal or failure papers - sale documents, or the evidence behind a loss: the dissolution, the negligible value claim, the administrator's statement.

If HMRC opens an enquiry into a claim, the questions are precisely these: which company, how much, what date, which certificate, which year. An investor who can answer from a folder closes the enquiry quickly.

Standard record-keeping guidance for individuals is short, but EIS does not fit it: a certificate from 2024 may support a claim filed in 2026, a clawback test running to 2027, and an exit taxed in 2031. The practical rule: keep EIS records for the life of the holding plus six years. In storage terms this is trivial - a few PDFs per position.

Claims are made per tax year; the annual caps are per tax year; carry-back moves money between tax years; and the 6 April boundary decides which year an investment belongs to. A folder per tax year, with each holding's papers inside, matches how every future question will be asked. (The deadlines guide covers the dates that attach to each year.)

The system above works perfectly until the portfolio reaches eight or ten positions across four tax years, at which point every angel discovers the same things: two certificates never arrived and nobody chased them, one company quietly dissolved with a loss-relief claim inside its deadline, and nobody remembers which claims were carried back. The records were never the problem; the upkeep was.

That upkeep is what Tero's tax relief tracker automates - certificates and UIRs stored per holding, chasing flags for the missing ones, clocks and claim windows computed, and the register watched for the events that create paperwork. Founding members use it free. Information, not tax advice.