The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a series of UK tax reliefs launched in 1994 in succession to the Business Expansion Scheme.[1][2] It is designed to encourage investments in small unquoted companies carrying on a qualifying trade in the United Kingdom.[3]
By the end of the 2014–15 tax year, a cumulative total of £14.2 billion had been invested under the scheme into approximately 25,000 companies. In that year, in excess of £1.8 billion was invested under the EIS.[4]