Most of the 2026 changes for angels were about what you pay. This one is about what you can put money into. From 6 April 2026 the company-side limits on EIS and VCT - the size and stage rules a business has to meet to issue shares that carry the relief - went up sharply. A company can now hold up to £30m in gross assets before it raises, against £15m before, and take up to £10m a year under the schemes rather than £5m.
None of this changes the relief on your own return. The headline rates, the annual amount you can claim on, the holding periods - all untouched. What moves is the pool of companies allowed to offer you EIS or VCT shares in the first place. So it's worth understanding as a deal-flow change, not a tax change.
The companies got more room. Your relief and your own caps stayed exactly where they were.
What actually changed in April 2026
The change is on the company side, and it's a step up rather than a tweak. From 6 April 2026 a company can hold up to £30m in gross assets immediately before it issues EIS or VCT shares, and up to £35m straight after - double the old £15m and £16m. Gross assets is roughly everything the business owns before its debts, so this is the test that decides whether a company has grown too big for the schemes.
The amount a company can raise also went up. A business can now take up to £10m a year under the venture schemes, and up to £24m across its whole lifetime, against £5m and £12m before. A knowledge-intensive company - broadly one doing significant R&D or innovation, which HMRC defines closely - gets more headroom again: up to £20m a year and £40m over its lifetime. HMRC's guidance for investors sets out the current company conditions in full.
The table above lines the old and new figures up. The shorthand: the gates a company has to fit through to offer you EIS or VCT shares are now roughly twice as wide.
Why the limits were raised
The old ceilings were set a long time ago, and inflation and bigger funding rounds had quietly made them tight. A company doing genuinely early-stage, high-risk work could hit the £15m gross-assets line or the £5m annual cap well before it stopped being the kind of business the schemes were built to support. At that point it had to turn EIS and VCT money away, even though it still carried real risk and still needed capital.
Raising the limits pulls those companies back in. The intent is to let more scaling British businesses - the ones past the seed stage but a long way from safe - keep using EIS and VCT to attract investment, rather than ageing out of the relief at exactly the point they're trying to grow into something substantial. For you, the practical effect is on the other side of the table: a wider set of companies that can legitimately offer the relief.
What it means for you as an investor
The clearest effect is on your deal flow. Businesses that had outgrown the old thresholds - bigger, later-stage, often with revenue and a track record - can now issue EIS or VCT shares again. So you may start seeing the relief attached to companies that, a year ago, would have been too large to offer it. That can shift the risk shape of an EIS portfolio towards more developed businesses, if that's where you choose to look.
Be clear about what this does and doesn't give you, though. The higher numbers are limits on the company, not allowances for you. They don't let you claim relief on more than before, and they don't make any individual company a safer bet - a larger business can still fail and take your money with it. What's changed is the menu, not your plate. Your own £1m annual EIS limit (£2m if at least £1m goes to knowledge-intensive companies) and your £200,000 SEIS limit are exactly where they were.
What did not change
It's as useful to be clear on what stayed put, because a few of the figures look similar and are easy to mix up:
- The relief rates. EIS is still 30% income tax relief, SEIS still 50%. VCT relief did change in 2026, but separately - it fell to 20% on new subscriptions, nothing to do with these company limits.
- Your investor caps. EIS relief is still claimed on up to £1m a year (£2m with £1m+ into knowledge-intensive companies); SEIS on up to £200,000.
- The holding periods. Three years for SEIS and EIS, five for VCT, all unchanged.
- SEIS company limits. SEIS sits one stage earlier and was untouched by this change: a company can still hold no more than £350,000 in gross assets at the share issue and raise no more than £250,000 under SEIS over its lifetime.
So the raised numbers in the table all sit on the EIS and VCT side. SEIS is for the earliest, smallest companies, and its much lower ceilings are deliberate.
A note on what this isn't
This piece explains a rule change; it isn't a steer towards bigger companies, EIS over anything else, or any particular deal. A company qualifying for the schemes only means it meets HMRC's conditions - it says nothing about whether the business is sound, and EIS and VCT companies remain among the most likely investments you can make to lose the whole stake. Eligibility also turns on the company's facts at the moment its shares are issued, and the figures here shift with each Budget. Confirm the current limits in HMRC's guidance for investors, and take FCA-regulated advice before you commit capital.
Frequently asked questions
What is the EIS gross assets limit in 2026?
From 6 April 2026 a company can hold up to £30m in gross assets immediately before it issues EIS or VCT shares, and up to £35m straight afterwards. That is up from £15m and £16m before. Gross assets is broadly what the business owns before deducting its debts, measured at the time of the share issue.
Did the investor's EIS limit change in 2026?
No. An EIS investor can still claim income tax relief on up to £1m invested per tax year, or up to £2m if at least £1m of that goes into knowledge-intensive companies. Those caps were not touched by the 2026 changes. What rose were the limits on the company issuing the shares, not the amount you can claim relief on.
How much can a company raise under EIS and VCT now?
From 6 April 2026 a company can raise up to £10m a year under the venture schemes and up to £24m over its lifetime, against £5m and £12m before. A knowledge-intensive company can raise up to £20m a year and up to £40m over its lifetime. These are limits on the company, not on any individual investor.
Does the change affect SEIS?
No. SEIS sits at an earlier stage and its company limits were unchanged. A company using SEIS can still hold no more than £350,000 in gross assets at the share issue and raise no more than £250,000 under SEIS over its lifetime. The SEIS investor limit also stays at £200,000 a year, with 50% income tax relief.
Does qualifying for EIS mean a company is a safe investment?
No, and this is general information rather than advice. Meeting the EIS or VCT conditions only means a company satisfies HMRC's rules at the time of the share issue. It says nothing about whether the business will succeed, and these companies are among the most likely investments to fail. The rules also change with each Budget, so confirm the current position at GOV.UK and take FCA-regulated advice before committing capital.