Share and share alike - Ernst & Young welcomes interim report on employee share schemes - EY - United Kingdom

Share and share alike - Ernst & Young welcomes interim report on employee share schemes, published today by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS)

Tuesday 6 March 2011

Giles Capon, Tax Partner and National Head of Performance & Reward at Ernst & Young commented:

“Tax relieved share schemes have been around for many years and have proved popular with employers and employees alike.  However, too much dust has been allowed to settle on these schemes and successive Governments have failed to keep them up to date and relevant to the modern workforce. The OTS report is the first stage in a much needed reform, although all eyes will be on the Chancellor on Budget day to see how he responds.

“At a time when Government is looking for the business sector to drive economic growth, the ability of companies to provide tax efficient incentives to their employees through share ownership is key. Cutting red tape makes good sense. We believe that tax advantaged discretionary share options should continue to be available to employees of companies of all sizes.

“Merging Enterprise Management Incentives and Company Share Option Plans is step in the right direction. We would encourage the Chancellor to grasp the opportunity presented to him by the OTS report and provide a much needed and long overdue boost to tax relieved share plans in the UK.”