In Hunt v HMRC [2019] UKFTT 0210 (TC) (26 March 2019) (Judge Anne Redston), the First Tier Tribunal upheld a decision regarding one of the key tests for Entrepreneurs’ Relief (ER). To recap, at the time of this particular claim, ER secured a 10% capital...
The recent case of Nosworthy v Instinctif Partners Ltd (2019) UKEAT/0100/18 is not strictly speaking a case regarding employee share schemes but a couple of the themes are pertinent to our arena, particularly where employees have acquired shares following the exercise of share options, or...
On the occasion of its 25th birthday, RM2, the market leading employee share schemes and EOT consulting business, is converting to full employee ownership as the present owners transfer their entire shareholding to an Employee Ownership Trust. Since 1994, RM2 has helped private companies set up...
The symposium is an annual opportunity for share scheme experts to share ideas, celebrate employee share schemes and (in the friendliest way) occasionally butt heads.I was fascinated to see three themes emerge from this years’ talks:Are employee share schemes a mere financial incentive or a...
Approaching the end of the tax year in the world of share plans is a bit like Christmas, there are 2 types of shopper, those who buy their presents in good time, and those who rush out on Christmas Eve. RM2 are definatley in the former...
On 14 February 2019, one of our directors Nigel Mason spoke with Deb Oxley OBE, chief executive of the Employee Ownership Association ("EOA"), at the annual Jack Fitzpatrick Memorial Lecture in Dublin, organised by IPSA, the Irish Proshare Association. Jack Fitzpatrick was a lifelong advocate...
At RM2 we have occasionally had cause to wonder whether HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) actually read the Enterprise Management Incentive valuation submissions that we make on behalf of clients.We are, of course, aware that HMRC view Enterprise Management Incentive (“EMI”) valuations as low risk (and...
Zero tax on an employee share plan, the Share Incentive Plan ("SIP") sounds too good to be true. Even the Enterprise Management Incentive ("EMI") only delivers a 10% capital gains tax rate to participants – and that’s after employees have paid something to exercise their...
Discretionary share schemes Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) and Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) options are popular choices for companies who want to operate their share option arrangements flexibly. Both plans allow the directors an element of choice and discretion in key areas: Who gets to benefit ...
Each year the Employment Related Securities (“ERS”) service of HMRC issues penalties for share scheme returns not filed by the deadline date of 6th July. HMRC released the following statistics on the number of penalties issued for 2017/2018 tax year: 9,253 first penalties issued (£100...
On 28th November 2018, the Investment Association (“IA”) published a revised version of its principles of remuneration. The main changes are: Firstly, a recommendation of a minimum two-year period during which executives are required to hold their shares post any termination of their employment that may have...
In time honoured tradition, we hereby stick out our necks and make five bold predictions for what might happen in our world of employee share ownership in 2019. Employee Ownership Trusts (“EOT”) will graduate from niche to mainstream, five years after their introduction in the...
The big story of the year has been the increasing number of companies converting to employee ownership by selling to an employee ownership trust (“EOT”). Here’s a run down of what went down this year in the world of employee share schemes and employee ownership: January: Trust...
A recent case about entrepreneurs’ relief is jammed with tedious legal jargon about equitable remedies and the like. Luckily, most of the salient points in Dieno George v HMRC ([2018] UKFTT 0509 (TC)) have already been covered by a number of the greatest 80s popular...
There was a flurry of excitement in relation to the Budget announcements about changes to entrepreneurs’ relief (“ER”), which impacts on Enterprise Management Incentive (“EMI”) options.We summarised these in our Budget blog. Some grumpiness arose because up till now, EMI option holders only had to...
