Steve Livingston - IP Tax Solutions

SEIS

When Can a Company File SEIS1 or EIS1, and What Is the Deadline?

When a company can file SEIS1 or EIS1: the 70% spend test, the four-month rule, the two-year EIS longstop, and who gets the certificate when investors use a nominee or fund.

Hand-drawn sketch: the BADR lifetime limit falls from £1m to £500k on 6 April 2027, with a proposed 10% Founders' Relief

Budget 2026

Budget 2026 for Founders: BADR Halves to £500,000, Founders' Relief Is Proposed, and What to Do Before 6 April 2027

Budget 2026 cuts the BADR lifetime limit to £500,000 from 6 April 2027 and proposes a 10% Founders' Relief. What is announced, what is law, and what to do first.

Refused? Find the REAL BLOCKER, Fix It, Then Apply Again

SEIS

SEIS Advance Assurance Refused: How to Turn It Around and Get Approval

HMRC refused your SEIS advance assurance? Here is the specialist process to identify the real issue, fix it, and get the SEIS1 approved on resubmission.

Hand-drawn napkin sketch showing an old company box and a new company box with a same trade question and an arrow to advance assurance

SEIS

Can a New Company Qualify for SEIS or EIS When the Founders Already Run a Similar Business?

Can a new company raise SEIS or EIS when its founders already run a similar business? How the predecessor trade, phoenix and advance assurance tests work.

Growth Shares Only Share In Value ABOVE The Hurdle

Share Structuring

Growth Shares vs Ordinary Shares: What Every Founder Needs to Know Before Issuing Equity

Growth shares convert exit gains to CGT at 24%; ordinary shares are simpler but less efficient. Learn which structure is right for your company.

R&D Tax Credits

Software R&D Tax Credits Under HMRC Scrutiny: What HMRC Actually Looks For

HMRC scrutinises software R&D tax credit claims more heavily than other sectors. See what triggers enquiries and how to build a defensible claim.

Hand-drawn sketch showing three taxes on passing on a family company, capital gains, income tax and inheritance tax, with the 2.5 million pound relief cap circled

Succession Planning

How Do You Pass On a Family Limited Company Tax Efficiently in the UK?

How to pass on a family limited company without a tax shock: the £2.5m Business Property Relief cap, CGT holdover planning and employment income traps.

Hand-drawn napkin sketch of a wine can with a question mark, a timeline with a gap between May 2021 and November 2022, and a note reading no paper trail

R&D Tax Credits

Wine in a Can: What RDM Wines v HMRC Tells Us About R&D Evidence

RDM Wines lost its R&D claim for canned wine on the evidence. The missing paper trail, the late letter and the advance test, and what it means for your claim.

Hand-drawn sketch contrasting advance in knowledge with advance in capability under paragraph 6 of the DSIT Guidelines

R&D Tax Credits

Does R&D Have to Advance the Science? What Tanglewood Tells Us

HMRC argued every R&D project must advance the underlying science. In Tanglewood [2026] UKFTT 1137 the Tribunal said not always. What that means for claims.

Founder Equity Tax

Companies House Rectification: RP04, the SH01 Gap and What HMRC Sees

How to use RP04 to correct an SH01 at Companies House, close the cap table gap, and protect SEIS, EIS, EMI and BADR positions for UK company founders.

Choose the ADVISER Who Protects the RELIEF After Issue

SEIS

How to Choose a SEIS or EIS Adviser in the UK (and Why Specialism Actually Matters)

Choosing a UK SEIS or EIS adviser? Here are the tests a true specialist runs, the questions to ask, and the traps generalist firms still miss in 2026.

Hand-drawn sketch of two routes, using off-the-shelf AI versus resolving a technological uncertainty, with the test questions HMRC asks

R&D Tax Credits

R&D Tax Relief and AI: Using AI Versus Advancing AI

Using off-the-shelf AI rarely qualifies for R&D tax relief. Resolving real technological uncertainty in building AI can. Where the line sits and what to keep.