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...
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...
Managing any employee share plan or share option plan, and carrying out the administration, can be a huge task which can get on top of your already hectic work life. HMRC requires all plans and relevant events to be registered with them, and it’s all...
Too complicated Keep it simple. As a business owner, you want the financial interests of your employees as closely aligned with yours as possible. Give an employee shares (or an option) so that they do well if the business does well. That’s often complicated enough. A...
Employee ownership offers many benefits for businesses and employees, including helping to attract the best talent to a company, improving employee engagement and boosting staff retention. However, it’s inevitable that some employees will leave at some point, whether to move on with their career, due to retirement or...
It’s with huge sadness that RM2 announces that Nigel Mason has died, peacefully and after an illness which he faced with typical courage and positivity. He was a leading light in the sector and has been instrumental in the amazing growth in employee ownership schemes of...
While the government may have announced an increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) of 1.25% for both employees and employers to help fund the NHS and social care reforms (with effect from 1 April 2022), RM2 note that the attractiveness of tax-advantaged employee share plans...
One of RM2’s mantras is “Keep it Simple” so we’re always keeping a weather eye on the work of the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS). Their most recent reports have focused on capital gains tax simplification, including a section in their second report suggesting simplifications for...
There are many good reasons why Employee Ownership, in its various forms, is an increasingly popular business model in the UK. When employees share in the ownership of a business, their interests are aligned with those of shareholders. This means that employees are more likely...
When we begin to speak with clients about employee share plans, one of the questions we are often asked is, “what size should the award be”? This is, of course, an extremely important question, but unfortunately not one which is necessarily very simple to answer. There are...
