VCM60020 - Venture Capital Schemes Manual: venture capital schemes: advance assurance requests: conditions to be satisfied before applying for advance assurance: EIS, SEIS and VCTs

Before submitting an advance assurance application for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) or the Venture Capital Trusts (VCT) scheme, the company will need to be satisfied, and show, that it meets the following conditions:

• the company is a genuine growth company (for shares issued on or after 15 March 2018; see VCM8500+)
• the company will be a qualifying company (see for EIS VCM13010 and SEIS VCM34010), or an approved VCT, see VCM54010
• the shares to be issued will be eligible shares (see for EIS VCM12020 and SEIS VCM33020, for VCTs VCM54150)
• the shares will be issued to raise money for a qualifying business activity (see for EIS VCM12110 and SEIS VCM33050, for VCTs see VCM55010)
• the money raised will be employed only by companies that satisfy the rules of the scheme (see for EIS VCM12050 and for VCTS VCM55020

The company must also have registered with HMRC and obtained a Unique Taxpayer Reference number (UTR) before it submits an application. Both this reference, and the Company Registration Number (CRN) provided by Companies House, will be required in order to complete the mandatory advance assurance application form.