If your company participates in an employee equity scheme in the UK, you are obliged to submit an annual Employment Related Securities (ERS) return to HMRC. The Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme is an HMRC approved share option scheme with attractive tax benefits and, currently, employers are required to report the grant of new EMI options to employees within 92 days of the grant date via HMRC’s ERS online reporting system.
This is where we can share some good news as HMRC has streamlined the process for reporting EMI options, simplifying your reporting obligations. Going forward, companies issuing EMI options will no longer need to track the 92 day window from date of grant. Instead, all EMI options granted on or after 6 April 2024 will be consolidated into the single annual return which is due by 6 July following the end of the tax year in which the grant was made, along with the regular reporting of other changes in approved and unapproved employee share schemes.
If you need guidance on filing and submitting your ERS annual return, or other employee incentivisation matters, please contact a member of the CB Reid team to discuss further.