An experienced investor’s end of tax year checklist

High net worth and experienced investors looking for tax breaks and keen to do more than just add to their ISA or pension will want to have a keen eye on weeks leading up to the end of the 2025/26 tax year.

Certain government-backed initiatives – namely Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS), Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS), and venture capital trusts (VCTs) – have use-it-or-lose-it allowances interested investors will need to act fast to take advantage of, well in advance of the official end of the current tax year on 5 April.

EIS, SEIS and VCTs are designed to encourage investment in early stage companies using the carrot of income tax savings. These are also much riskier products, suitable only for high net worth individuals who can afford to lose out if the companies fold (as young companies are more likely to do) and experienced investors who understand those risks.

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With that in mind, for interested investors the deadline for submitting applications to invest in EIS, SEIS and VCTs is much sooner than 5 April. Also changes to the tax incentives for VCTs from April mean that investors need to act now to benefit.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club said: "High net worth investors with multiple sources of income, or complex tax arrangements, often find that planning for the end of tax year deadlines is a headache – and this year it risks becoming a migraine.

“There were yet more tweaks to taxes at the 2025 Budget, making affairs even more complicated at a time when tax rates remain at the highest levels in peacetime. So, investors wanting to reduce their tax bills should act now rather than leaving everything to the last minute.”

End of tax year checklist for experienced investors

Up to six weeks before end of tax year

VCT investors will find that, while the deadlines to invest span the last two weeks of the tax year – with some VCTs using the earliest deadline to invest on 23 March and with the last to close its books at noon on 2 April – the real deadlines will be earlier.

This is down to offer capacity, meaning the maximum amount of money a specific VCT is looking to raise from investors during a new share offer. The most popular VCT offers are likely to be fully subscribed before their deadlines are met and are already nearing capacity, according to Streeter. For example:

• Albion VCTs (87% full)
• Northern VCTs (94% full)
• Molten Ventures VCT (93% full)

“With VCT income tax relief due to drop to 20% from 2026/27, investors whose shares are allotted in the current tax year can still benefit from 30% income tax relief. This means there is a real incentive to do a VCT now rather than waiting till the next tax year,” said Streeter.

You can invest up to £200,000 per tax year into a VCT.

Five weeks before end of tax year

Investors seeking to invest in SEIS funds have only have until 27 February to invest in funds deploying capital in the 2025/26 tax year, including, for example:

• Fuel Ventures SEIS Fund (27 Feb)
• SFC Angel Fund SEIS (27 Feb)

“That said, investors whose funds are deployed in 2026/27 may still use the ‘carry back’ option to apply their SEIS income tax relief to 2025/26,” Streeter pointed out.

Carry back allows investors to treat shares acquired in the current tax year as if they were bought in the previous tax year. This enables you to claim income tax relief against the previous year’s tax bill.

When you invest via SEIS you receive up to 50% income tax relief. You can invest up to £200,000 into SEIS each tax year.

Two weeks before end of tax year

“Investors in EIS funds will find some have already closed for the 2025/26 tax year, but there are a few remaining open with the latest deadline on 27 March,” said Streeter. These include:

• Fuel Ventures Follow-on EIS Fund (27 Mar)
• Guinness EIS (6 Mar)
• Haatch EIS Fund (6 Mar)

Like SEIS investors, EIS investors whose funds are deployed in 2026/27 may still use the ‘carry back’ option to apply their EIS income tax relief to 2025/26.

When you invest in EIS you receive income tax relief of up to 30%. You can invest up to £1 million a year or £2 million if the company is “knowledge intensive”.

One week before end of tax year

Investors in Knowledge Intensive EIS funds will find that the deadlines range from 30 March up to 3 April at noon. These funds, from managers including Parkwalk and Molten Ventures, provide investors with a single EIS certificate dated in 2025/26 once they have deployed 90% of their capital.

Deadlines in the last week

ISAs

If the higher risk EIS, SEIS and VCTs are not for you, you can still put up to £20,000 in ISAs this tax year right up until a minute before midnight and all income, interest or capital gains are tax-free. “You can also add up to £9,000 into a Junior ISA up to 11.30pm with providers by debit card, but if completing a bank transfer this needs to be done by 11.59pm on 4th April,” said Streeter.

Pensions

The annual allowance for adding money in your self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is £60,000 although that amount is restricted to as little as £10,000 for high earners. Investors can add up to this amount, or the up to their annual income each year, whichever is the lower. “Some providers will take payments by debit cards into pensions up to 30 minutes before midnight on 5 April but bank transfers may be limited to before 12pm (noon) on that day,” Streeter said.