The clock is ticking down before the end of tax year deadline, when any tax-free savings and investment allowances for the 2025/26 tax year are lost.
On some products, particularly government backed schemes such as EIS, SEIS and VCTs, the deadline for submitting applications is much sooner than 5 April.
Changes to the tax incentives for VCTs from April mean that investors need to act now to benefit.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist, Wealth Club
“The scramble before the end of the tax year is on, and investors need to act fast to benefit from favourable schemes. 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.

Up to six weeks before end of tax year
VCT investors will find that, while the deadlines span the last two weeks of the tax year – with the earliest deadline on 23 March, and the last to close its books at noon on 2 April – the real deadlines will be down to offer capacity. The most popular VCT offers are likely to be fully subscribed before their deadlines are met and are already nearing capacity:
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.

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

Five weeks before end of tax year

Investors seeking Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) funds have until 27 February to invest in funds deploying capital in the 2025/26 tax year, including:
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.

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 Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) funds will find that some have already closed for deployment in the 2025/26 tax year, but there are a few remaining open with the latest deadline on 27 March, including:

Fuel Ventures Follow-on EIS Fund (27 Mar)
Guinness EIS (6 Mar)
Haatch EIS Fund (6 Mar)
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 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 include Parkwalk and Molten Ventures, provide investors with a single EIS certificate dated in 2025/26 once they have deployed 90% of their capital.

In the last week
You can shelter up to £20,000 in an ISA this tax year and all income, interest or capital gains are tax-free. You can 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.
The annual allowance for adding money in your 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 5th April but bank transfers may be at 12pm (noon) on 5th April.”