Another EMI options tax break

Is this the most generous tax relief we have?

Another big boost for EMI share options: the Treasury has relented and will now extend entrepreneurs' relief - the effective 10% rate of CGT - to almost all EMI options. Previously they had said that the employee would have to hold the shares for at least a year - difficult in many schemes.  From April 2013, the relief will be available if the option (rather than the shares) has been held for a year, and the employee has remained employed for that time.

EMI options are almost ludicrously tax-efficient, with an effective negative tax rate. Any company that could be using them probably should be.

Frequently asked questions:

Why was it hard to get the relief previously? Until the 2012 Budget, entrepreneurs' relief was not available unless the employee had held shares amounting to 5% of the company for at least 12 months. Few EMI options amounted to 5%, so most were excluded on that ground alone. But the 2012 budget removed the 5% requirement for EMI options. The 12 month rule remained.

Why was that a problem? Most EMI options are exercised (converted from an option to real shares) only immediately before the shares are sold. There are a number of reasons for this:

• The employee doesn’t have to find or borrow the money to pay the exercise price
• The employee is not at risk of losing money if the value of the shares falls or the company fails
• If there is tax to pay on exercise (usually only if the exercise price was set at below market value at the date of grant) the employee has the money to pay the tax if he has sold the shares – otherwise he may have it deducted from pay under PAYE
• Option exercise can remain subject to conditions being met. Most popular is condition making options exercisable only when the company is sold – which ruled out holding the shares for 12 months
• The company has not issued real shares until shortly before sale, removing all the issues surrounding small employee holdings in private companies – how to buy the shares back if someone leaves, upsetting voting balance, inhibiting owners remunerating themselves by way of dividends…
• Corporation tax relief is maximised: it continues to accrue on the rising value of the shares until the moment before the shares are sold

Until this change, in order to benefit from entrepreneurs’ relief, the employee would have had to exercise his option and get real shares at least a year before sale. If sale was going to be on sale of the company, that meant accurately predicting an exit a year in advance!

Why is there a negative tax rate?

On options granted at market value, there is normally no income tax (or NICs) payable on grant of the option , exercise of the option or sale of the shares. The only tax paid by the employee is CGT on the gain on sale of the shares, to the extent that it exceeds the annual CGT allowance – and the CGT will now usually be at 10%. But the company gets corporation tax relief on the gain[1], even though it has not incurred any cash cost. As the rate of corporation tax is higher than the employee’s effective rate of CGT, the Treasury is paying you!
 

I have been advising companies on employee share incentives for 30 years. If I can help with EMI options or any other kind of share scheme, do get in touch.








Published December 2012
Updated February 2013

 

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[1] Assuming exercise of the option and sale of the shares are at the same value. All tax reliefs mentioned are subject to conditions, and the tax position described is the usual one, but there could be exceptions; always take proper professional advice, ideally from me!