The nine tests HMRC actually applies

Read in the order HMRC reasons, not the order the form asks the questions.

When a caseworker opens your application, they are not running down the form field by field. They are running down a mental checklist of qualifying conditions, drawn from the same legislation and manuals that govern every advance assurance decision. There are nine of those conditions. They are the spine of every application HMRC reads, and the spine of this Playbook.

Four of the nine catch the great majority of avoidable refusals. The other five are more often satisfied without trouble, but they are not optional, and a failure on any one of them is enough on its own. We cover all nine, with the four high-leverage tests treated at greater length. A practical note on framing: the nine tests in this Playbook are practitioner categories drawn from how HMRC reads applications in practice. Some are statutory conditions, some are interpretive overlays, and some are practical review heuristics. They are not all formal HMRC test categories. They are how successful applications get organised.

The order in this Playbook reflects where refusals actually originate, not the order HMRC's online form happens to walk you through. The four tests at the top – trade type, use of proceeds, investor terms, and risk-to-capital – are where the great majority of refusals come from. If your application is going to fail, it is overwhelmingly likely to fail on one of these four. Start there. The remaining five are tests of fact (where the company is, how old it is, how many people work there, who controls it, what it has previously raised) and are typically either passed cleanly or caught by the eligibility checker on Seisly's front page. They still need to be addressed in the application. They are unlikely to be the reason it is refused.

Start with the four high-leverage tests, in order. The five company-level conditions are gathered on a single page; each is a test of fact you confirm rather than argue.