Yes, SeedFAST agreements are not classified as debt which makes them SEIS and EIS compliant.
As long as you convert the SeedFAST investor to equity within 6 months of them sending over the funds, as per HMRC guidelines. To do so you must select a longstop date of no more than 6 months in your SeedFAST.
However, even if a SeedFAST’s longstop date has been set to 6 months, HMRC’s rules state that if a fully signed SeedFAST is later varied, canceled, or reassigned, that SeedFAST will become S/EIS ineligible.
A general HMRC rule to remember is that money received via S/EIS SeedFASTs will not count towards the company’s gross assets test for S/EIS purposes. Additionally, if SeedFASTs convert into shares on the same date, they won’t count toward the gross assets test.
However, one caveat is that if I have a SEIS SeedFAST that converts today and an EIS SeedFAST that converts 2 days later, the SEIS SeedFAST won’t count towards my gross assets test, but the EIS SeedFAST will. So if you are raising SEIS and EIS funds at the same time through SeedFASTs, our advice is to spend the EIS funds before the SEIS shares are issued so they don't contribute towards your Gross Assets. Here is a guide on how to check if you meet the Gross Assets Test.
Can I have one SeedFAST containing both SEIS and EIS?
It’s important to note that you would need to create two separate SeedFASTs for an investor intending to invest in both SEIS and EIS and the longstop date for the SEIS amount should be a day or two earlier than the longstop date for the EIS amount.
For more information on these topics, please see the below articles: