The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) offers fantastic tax breaks to investors in small start-up companies in the UK. As a minimum, investors qualify for 64% tax relief and if the business fails they may be able to reclaim up to 100% of your investment though tax relief. If you are a fledgling Startup looking for equity investment, and qualify for the scheme, it could be well worth circulating this video to friends, family and networks. It provides a very accessible overview of how the scheme works and how it can benefit investors on fairly modest incomes.
The SEIS reliefs are also fueling peer to peer lending platforms such as Crowdcube and Seedrs. Those platforms provide a framework to bring together a number of small investors and also to promote your offer to some new investors looking for a home for their money.
SEIS is one of the most generous tax schemes available to UK taxpayers. If you think it may be right for your Startup, make sure that you are fully aware of the eligibility rules as soon as possible; minor infringements are one of the main sources of exclusion. You’ll find full details at HMRC.
Erika Watson MBE is Director of Prowess.org.uk and a recognised authority on women’s enterprise, small business policy and leadership development. She has more than 25 years’ experience designing and leading enterprise initiatives at regional and national level. She was awarded an MBE for services to women’s enterprise in 2009.
As founder and Chief Executive of WEETU, she established the UK’s first microcredit programme for women and contributed to national policy development on women’s entrepreneurship. She later founded Greenwell Consulting, advising public bodies, universities and enterprise organisations across the UK and internationally on strategy, programme design and impact evaluation.
Erika is currently completing a Master’s degree in Broadcast and Digital Journalism at the University of East Anglia. She writes and commissions evidence-led content on small business growth, economic policy, leadership and women’s entrepreneurship.