Statistics: EIS, SEIS and SITR

HMRC have released statistics showing the number and amount of investments made under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) scheme.

EIS, SEIS and SITR provide methods of raising finance while providing investors with tax incentives in the form of Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reliefs.

Statistics released by HMRC's include first estimates of funds raised in the 2019-20 tax year, information about advance assurance requests along with the first estimates for 2020-21. 

For both EIS and SEIS the majority of funds were raised by companies in the information and communication sector. Manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical industries also featured heavily. 

Enterprise Investment Scheme

• Since it was launched in 1994, approximately £24 billion has been raised by 32,965 companies. 
• In 2019-20, 4,215 companies raised £1,905 million. This increased from £1,867 million raised by 4,060 companies in 2018-19.
• 66% of 2019-20 EIS investment was received by companies registered in London and the South East. 
• 1,500 companies raised EIS funds for the first time in 2019-20, totalling £466 million.  
• Since 2006, 36,905 EIS Advance assurance requests have been made. Of these, 30,205 have been approved. 
• 2020-21 saw 3,080 advance assurance requests, down from 3,440 in 2019-20. 
  • In both 2020-21 and 2019-20, 77% of advance assurance requests were approved.
• 36,950 investors claimed EIS Income Tax relief on their 2019-20 tax returns, down from 37,955 the previous year. 

Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

• SEIS was launched in 2012. Since then approximately £1.4 billion has been raised by 13,800 companies. 
• 2,090 companies raised a total of £170 million in 2019-20.
  • 1,620 of these were raising SEIS capital for the first time, totalling £145 million. 
• 2019-20 SEIS investment was slightly down on 2018-19 when 2,125 companies raised £171 million. 
• Like EIS, the largest proportion of investment was raised by companies registered in London and the South East at 63% of all SEIS investment. 
• 25,365 advance assurance requests have been made since 2012 with 20,790 being approved. 
  • 81% of the 2,900 requests received in 2020-21 were approved. 
  • 2,120 requests were approved in 2019-20, of the 2,755 received. 
• In 2019-20, 8,665 investors claimed SEIS Income Tax relief on their tax returns, down from 8,725 in 2018-19.

Social Investment Tax Relief

• Since SITR was launched in 2014, a total of £15.8 million has been raised under the scheme by social enterprises. 
• 30 social enterprises raised funds under the scheme in 2019-20, totalling £3.3 million. This is a proportionally large decrease on 2018-19 when £4.7 million was raised by 45 social enterprises. 
• Since 2014, 475 advance assurance requests have been received by HMRC of which 310 were approved. 
  • 40 requests were received in 2020-21, 30 were approved. 
  • In 2019-20, the same number of requests were received and approved. 

Useful guides on this topic

EIS: Enterprise Investment Scheme (Subscriber guide)
When can EIS relief be claimed?  What are the conditions for EIS relief?  What are the benefits of EIS relief?

SEIS: Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (subscribers)
When can SEIS relief be claimed?  What are the conditions for SEIS relief?  What are the benefits of SEIS relief?

Social Investment Tax Relief
What is SITR?  What are the qualifying conditions for SITR?  What relief is available?

EIS or SEIS: Advanced assurance from HMRC
HMRC offers an advance assurance application service for both the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS).

Risk-to-capital: EIS, SEIS and VCTs
The Finance Act 2018 introduced a new 'risk-to-capital' condition for companies raising funds via the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) arrangements.

Knowledge-Intensive Companies
What are the conditions for investing in EIS Knowledge-Intensive Companies (KICs), what qualifies and how can it benefit investors?

External link

National Statistics: Enterprise Investment Scheme, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and Social Investment Tax Relief: May 2021