Autumn Budget 2026: Venture capital schemes
Changes will be made to seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) and enterprise investment scheme (EIS) from 6 April 2027 as set out below:
- Where a company exceeds the annual or lifetime EIS investment limits, relief will now remain available for the proportion of the share issue that falls within the relevant limit.
- To allow SEIS and EIS or VCT investment to take place on the same day without affecting eligibility for relief.
- HMRC will have discretionary power to treat shares as fully paid up where the subscription monies are received after the share issue due to exceptional and unavoidable circumstances outside the control of the company and investor.
- The failure by one or more investors to meet the fully paid-up requirement will not itself prevent relief being available for other investors in the same issue.
- Align the SEIS rules on interest charged when relief is withdrawn or reduced with the equivalent EIS rules for SEIS shares issued on or after 6 April 2027.
In addition, changes will be made to venture capital trusts (VCTs) to ensure any withdrawal of income tax relief is calculated using the rate that applied when the shares were issued, for disposals of shares issued on or after 6 April 2026.