News Update
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...
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.
The new rules take the form of a relief of 4/9ths of gains on the sale of trading companies up to a limit of £1 million. A gross gain of £1 million will therefore become £555,555 on which tax of 18 per cent. will be £100,000 - an effective rate of 10 per cent. The £1 million is a lifetime limit. The relief is restricted to those holding 5 per cent. or more of the shares and votes of a company and so most employee shareholders will be unaffected. It will also not apply to rights over shares, such as EMI Share Options, SAYE Share Schemes or Company Share Option Plans.
Predictably, no-one applauded Mr Darling's statement. Proshare, the leading lobbyists for employee share schemes, said they were "disappointed". The Federation of Small Business and the CBI joined the chorus of criticism and the Tories described the measure as a "text book example" of how not to introduce a tax change.
Nevertheless, employee share schemes continue to offer good tax value. Government backed schemes, such as the EMI, SAYE and CSOP share option schemes, will still treat gains as capital and not income, thus saving participants large amounts of tax on exercise and also saving their employers substantial sums in National Insurance. Participants in the Share Incentive Plan will continue to pay no tax at all on shares held in the plan for five or more years.
If you would like to know more about the tax advantages of employee share schemes please call us for free advice on Freephone 0800 043 8150 or explore our website.
The RM2 Partnership
020 8949 5522
mail@rm2.co.uk
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Share Incentive Plan | Enterprise Management Incentive
Company Share Options | Shares Advice | RM2 Site Map