EIS tax relief claim for the previous tax year without EIS3 form?

martinisfab

I've invested in a EIS-eligible scheme (EIS fully granted by HMRC) in November 2019. I've been told (by the large, reputable investment firm) it will take a few months for me to get my EIS3 form and that's common for such investments, but it is perfectly normal and acceptable to go ahead with my tax relief claim.

However, I wish to claim my EIS tax relief for the previous tax year, for which I filed my self-assessment in January 2019.

It goes without saying I can’t add the details of the EIS tax-relief eligible investment to the “other information” section of my self-assessment tax form for the previous tax year as obviously that was completed and submitted a long time ago (in January 2019).

At least six websites I’ve studied all state example the same thing: the way to reclaim for a previous tax year is to fill out pages 3 and 4 of the EIS3 form e.g.:

“If you have been issued an EIS3 certificate for shares issued in the previous tax year and have already filed a tax return, you can complete the form on page 3 of the certificate ticking “Tax Relief for a previous year”, tear off this page and send it to HMRC, who will process this claim and which may result in a rebate.”

I assume the deadline for claiming for the previous tax year is very close, 31.01.20. I won't get my EIS3 form by then. Therefore what can I do to reclaim the tax I paid for the last tax year please?

Thanks for your help.

anselld

AFAIK you cannot conclude that HMRC have approved the EIS until you receive the EIS3 since it is usually HMRC themselves holding it up.

So I think you need to wait for the EIS3 and then amend your return for the relevant tax year if it is past the Jan deadline.

martinisfab

Thank you for the reply.

I've been told a few times by the investment company (who've been handling such matters for years) I can claim the tax back even without the EIS3 form as long as HMRC have given their formal approval.

If I have to wait for it, which will take many months, I presume it'll mean I won't be able to get a tax refund for the last tax year, as the EIS scheme allows, after 31 January 2020? Or can I still do it after that date even it will no longer be my "last" self-assessment filing?

anselld

You can still do it by amending a previous return.
How have HMRC given formal approval? If they have actually done that it seems strange that the EIS3s have not been issued as it is a simple admin task once HMRC approval is gained.

BoGoF

From the .GOV site

"If you made an investment during the year for which you have not yet received a form EIS 3 you cannot claim relief for that investment. You must wait until you have received a form"

Snakey

Are you sure your dates are correct? An investment made in November 2019 falls into the year 2019/20, and the earliest year you can make the claim for relief is 2018/19 - and you've got another year to amend that return.

If you mean November 2018 then you can't be too far away from getting the certificate even allowing for delays in starting to trade and nobody in the chain having the authorisation process as their top priority (the only one affected by a delay in this certificate is you, and they've already got your money). The strictly informal and unofficial at-your-own-risk advice I got from a friend who works in personal tax was to just submit the claim on your tax return anyway because by the time HMRC get around to raising an enquiry to challenge it you should have received the form you need and you can just say oh here it is.

This is of course not the way you are supposed to behave and the risk you take is that if there's a problem you haven't been told about and the certificate never gets issued because the company or the investment doesn't qualify after all, then you've made a false claim for tax relief with all the grief that entails, so that's a judgment call for you to make. I decided against it in the end, so I can't say whether it works as intended. Might not be worth it for a couple of months of cash flow.

(If it's November 2019 then you'll have to sit back and chill because you won't get the certificate you need for ages yet. Could be a year or more if you were the first tranche of investment. But if it is November 2019 you don't have the deadline you think you do anyway.)