If you're still looking for investors or are in the early stages then Advance Assurance will help you when you are pitching to potential investors. Most S/EIS investors require the company to have Advance Assurance from HMRC before they invest. If your investors are willing to invest regardless of tax relief, then you don't need to worry about applying for Advance Assurance.

The Advance Assurance process should all be complete within 3 weeks but is often much quicker.

As a minimum you'll need to send your: Business Plan / Pitch Deck, 3 year projected Financials, Share Register, Application form, Cover letter & Checklist. You should also be prepared to send your: Company accounts/Bank statement, details of previous investment & De minimis aid, letter of engagement from your crowdfunding/investment partner, Articles of Association, and Investment Proposal / Termshee

This is a long list but the most common are: legal services, financial services, leasing / renting, energy, property development and agriculture.

Yes! For SEIS you just need to prove that you have not been 'trading' for longer than two years and for EIS you have to be within 7 years of your first commercial sale.