EIS relief claim

When you make a qualifying enterprise investment scheme (EIS) investment, you have the right to income tax relief for the year or the year prior to that in which you made the investment.

EIS relief - generally

When you make an investment that qualifies for EIS income tax relief, you can reduce your income tax liability at a rate of 30% x the qualifying investment. You cannot claim tax relief until an EIS3 certificate has been issued by the company in which you invested; sometimes this is a considerable time after your tax return has been filed for the year. The relief can be claimed throught your self-assessment tax return or, if you are not required to complete one, by submitting the claim part of the EIS3 to HMRC with a covering letter.  

EIS relief - carry back

The legislation allows you to carry back some or all of the EIS relief to the tax year prior to the one you made the investment in. You might want to do this if you cannot use the relief fully for the year of investment. For example, if your tax liability was lower than the amount of EIS relief, some would be wasted because it cannot reduce your tax bill below zero.

Example. Jill makes a qualifying investment under EIS in 2022/23, and wishes to claim the £20,000 relief against her liability for that year. However, she only has a tax liability of £10,000 for 2022/23 so half of the relief would be wasted. To prevent wasting the relief Jill can make a claim to carry back part of the EIS relief against her tax liability for 2021/22.

The claim for carry back can be made using our letter.

Making a claim

Your claim must include information about the EIS company and your investment. Use the information on the EIS3 for this.

Time limit

Claims must be made within five years of the 31 January which follows the end of the tax year in which the investment was made. For example, if the EIS3 shows the investment was made in 2021/22, you have until 31 January 2028 to make a claim.