HMRC has updated the mechanism for calculating bonus rates for participants in Save As You Earn (SAYE or “Sharesave”) schemes, as announced in HMRC Employment Related Securities Bulletin 51. A new specimen SAYE prospectus and bonus rate mechanism will become effective from 18 August 2023 meaning that any new savings arrangements (or “savings contracts”) entered … Read more

In yesterday’s 2023 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced a number of changes relevant to remuneration and incentives: Enterprise Management Incentive (“EMI”) schemes The process to grant options under an EMI scheme will be simplified. From April 2023, EMI option agreements will no longer need to set out the details of share restrictions or include a … Read more

HMRC has now published updated end-of-year templates, guidance and technical notes in relation to its Employment Related Securities (ERS) regime, further to the changes announced in its ERS Bulletin 47. A summary of the changes made to the end-of-year templates can be found in our previous blog post here. Templates and guidance have been updated … Read more

Updated HMRC guidance on end of year return templates HMRC has announced in Employment Related Securities Bulletin 47 that it will be introducing some changes to Employment Related Securities (ERS) annual filings templates from 6 April 2023. Under the new ERS templates, completion of the following optional fields will become mandatory for returns submitted on … Read more

Following on from the reversal of much of the mini-budget on 17 October, in today’s Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced a number of measures which are relevant to remuneration and incentives. In particular there will be a reduction to the threshold at which the 45% additional rate of income tax applies, the freezing of other … Read more

As highlighted in ERS Bulletin 46, HMRC has published updated guidance in the Employee Tax Advantaged User Manual on enterprise management incentives (EMI) options which should clarify how EMI option plans should be drafted and operated. ERS Bulletin 46 also refers to the updated guidance published by HMRC in July 2022 on section 431 elections.  … Read more

The new Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, today announced a number of revisions to proposals put forward in the mini-budget of 23 September 2022. The key changes relevant to remuneration and incentives are: the income tax basic rate will remain at 20% until economic conditions allow for it to be cut; as already announced, the 45% income … Read more

Changes to the CSOP scheme The government is introducing two changes to the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) scheme, effective from 6 April 2023, announced as part of the government’s ‘mini budget’ last week: the maximum value of options that can be awarded to each employee under a CSOP scheme will double from £30,000 per … Read more