Topical discussions about employee ownership and employee share plans
HMRC have updated its Employment Related Securities Manual in relation to the various restricted securities elections. Among the changes, it has been confirmed that a restricted securities election, such as those pursuant to s431 Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, can now be made...
During the COVID pandemic, HMRC extended the period of time for which an agreed valuation of shares to be used for Enterprise Management Incentive “EMI” options remained valid (assuming no material changes occurred during the meantime) from 90 days to 120 days. However, on 14...
RM2 acts for companies in a wide variety of sectors. However, recruitment companies will often come to us to look for ways to structure equity incentives for their employees. These include executive, specialist IT & technical, property, tax and company secretarial, graduate and cross-sector recruitment. Recruitment...
The Employee Ownership Top 50, originally created in 2014 by the late Nigel Mason, is a list of the largest 50 private employee-owned companies by number of employees in the UK. RM2 is proudly continuing the research as part of Nigel’s legacy, and publishing it...
The Company Share Option Plan or CSOP offers generous tax reliefs, but then so can an Enterprise Management Incentive Scheme if your company qualifies, so which is better? We take a look at the key features of both to help you decide which might be...
So the government concluded in the recent Spring Statement that the current Enterprise Management Incentive scheme (“EMI”) remains effective and appropriately targeted. Hmmm….. – most advisers would agree that the government should have had more appetite for change and actually attempted to reduce some of...
An Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) transaction is a key and exciting step on the employee ownership journey but is a long way from the ultimate destination. Exemplary governance and employee involvement are key to continued growth and to maximising employee ownership’s contribution to the UK...
It’s nearly budget time and the share plans world is excited to see if there will be changes to the rules relating to Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) share option schemes. Last year the Treasury launched a consultation calling for evidence from company owners and practitioners about...
Why is employment status so important for share schemes? The answer lies in a mixture of tax law, financial services law and company law. It is of course perfectly possible for companies to grant options or award shares to non-employees, board advisers or non-executive...
In spite of the challenges of the pandemic, or maybe because of it, 2021 has shown that the momentum for Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) has continued to increase, according to flash results of the EOT Survey, created and tracked by RM2 for the Employee Ownership Association. There were...
Further guidance on the use of directors’ discretions with particular reference to Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) is, in RM2’s opinion, long overdue. One of the biggest attractions of EMI options for private companies is the flexibility they offer. For example, while other tax advantaged employee share...
RM2 is delighted to welcome John Dormer as our new Share Incentives Director. John will head up our share schemes team, with Sarah Anderson stepping back as director as John takes up the reins! John brings with him many years of share plans experience, most recently...
HMRC announced that its Trust Registration Service (TRS) was open for non-taxable trust registrations with effect from 1 September 2021. Historically, it may not have been necessary to register an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) using the TRS if it was not subject to a tax liability....
Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs) can be a useful part of employee share ownership plans, particularly for privately held companies. If you’re considering an EBT as part of your employee share scheme, it’s a good idea to understand how they work, what they can be used...
RM2 was interested to read about the views of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) on the use of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) as vehicles for tax avoidance in their pre-budget submission, as reported in The ESOP Centre’s newspad. CIOT have suggested that EOTs are, in...
