News Update
New edition of the Guide
Sat 18th October 2008
The 2008/09 edition of "Employee Share Schemes - A Guide for Directors" has arrived.
Reasons to be cheerful
Fri 17th October 2008
Everyone seems to be talking about recession. But it's not all gloom. We have some practical suggestions for ways in which RM2...
Boost to share ownership in Germany
Fri 29th August 2008
In response to a widening gap between rising corporate profits and employee wages, the German government is to promote employee share...
SAYE rate boost
Mon 11th August 2008
From 1st September 2008, the bonus rates for SAYE share option schemes are increasing. For the 3 year plan, the bonus rate (expressed...
Non-domiciliaries: Government wriggles
Tue 10th June 2008
The 2008 Finance Bill introduced a new regime whereby persons not domiciled in this country could choose between declaring their...
Budget boost for EMIs
Thu 13th March 2008
Alastair Darling announced that, from 6th April 2008, the upper limit on the value of shares that can be offered under an EMI scheme...
Research backs EMI effectiveness
Fri 29th February 2008
Nearly 80 per cent. of employers offering employee share options under the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) say that the scheme...
New CGT rules and share schemes
Fri 25th January 2008
Alastair Darling's new CGT rules offer some crumbs to small business owners but have little effect on employee share schemes.
£12m SAYE bonanza for HBOS staff
Fri 11th January 2008
HBOS has announced a payout of approximately £12m to its workforce of almost 14,000 staff following the maturity this week of its...
More companies to escape options audit
Wed 9th January 2008
Regulations coming into force in April will allow more companies to qualify as "small", and thus escape the requirement to expense...
No equity? I'm leaving!
Tue 8th January 2008
Leading City firm Close Brothers is suffering defections by senior staff as rumours grow of an imminent takeover bid. Five member...
Revised ABI Guidelines
Mon 10th December 2007
In recent years the ABI have chosen the month of December to issue revisions to their guidelines for executive remuneration.
Non-execs favour pay in options
Wed 28th November 2007
A big majority of non-executive directors at unlisted companies think they should receive shares or options as part of their pay,...
Practitioners lobby for end to tax trap
Thu 8th November 2007
The Employee Share Ownership Centre and Clifford Chance are leading calls for a change in the tax rules that apply to share schemes...
New CGT regime - implications for share schemes
Fri 19th October 2007
In the pre-Budget statement on October 9th 2007, the Chancellor announced that the previous capital gains tax regime would be abolished...
SAYE bonus rates increased
Sat 15th September 2007
The Treasury has raised the bonus rates on Save As You Earn (SAYE) share option schemes. This reflects a general rise in interest...
Share scheme returns go on-line
Fri 15th June 2007
We understand from HM REvenue & Customs that, within the next two years, they will require most employee share scheme returns...
Share scheme returns go on-line
Fri 15th June 2007
We understand from HM REvenue & Customs that, within the next two years, they will require most employee share scheme returns...
SAYE rate boost
Mon 11th August 2008
From 1st September 2008, the bonus rates for SAYE share option schemes are increasing. For the 3 year plan, the bonus rate (expressed in monthly contributions) rises from 1.6 months (an effective interest rate of 2.84%) to 2.4 months (4.23%). For the 5 year plan, the bonus rate increases from 5.1 months (3.22%) to 7 months (4.36%), and for the 7 year plan, the bonus rate of 9.8 months (3.36%) goes up to 12.7 (4.28%). All bonuses are tax free.
The SAYE (Save As You Earn) share option scheme remains a popular way of providing equity incentives to staff. This is the case despite some companies being caught by bizarre accounting rules (FRS20 and IAS2) which require them to take an accelerated charge to profits if the share option contracts are cashed in early. In fact, the ability for employees to choose a cash repayment instead of acquiring shares is one of the big advantages of the SAYE share option scheme since it reduces risk to the employee.
Meanwhile, calls are growing for the SAYE savings limit to be increased from the present monthly limit of £250, which has been unchanged for many years. The Irish government recently decided to increase the savings limit on their SAYE share option scheme – very similar to the UK version – to a total of €30,000 over a five year savings term.
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Share Incentive Plan | Enterprise Management Incentive
Company Share Options | Shares Advice | RM2 Site Map