Cooper Cavendish

This Practice Note looks at the issues arising on the death of a participant in an employee share scheme, or on the death of an employee who has already acquired shares in their employer. It looks at market practice regarding how share scheme awards are treated when a participant dies, as well as institutional shareholder guidelines regarding this. It also considers the legislative requirements in relation to the treatment of awards under tax-advantaged share schemes where the participant dies. This Practice Note then considers the tax implications of the participant’s death in respect of different share award structures and the practical considerations which can arise. Written in partnership with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish LLP.

This Practice Note looks at the impact that private company sale transactions can have on subsisting employee benefit trust (EBT) arrangements involving shares and the practical challenges facing companies operating EBTs. This Practice Note is written in conjunction with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish.

This Practice Note provides an introduction to the capital gains tax (CGT) regime as well as employment-related securities and securities options, and then analyses how the capital gains should be calculated, depending upon the particular share incentives structure involved. This includes a review of restricted securities, convertible securities, securities acquired for less than market value, securities disposed of for more than market value, securities with an artificially enhanced market value, post-acquisition benefits from employment-related securities, securities options (both tax advantaged and unapproved), employee-shareholder shares, joint-share ownership arrangements and growth shares. This Practice Note then examines applicable exemptions and reliefs, share pooling issues and CGT planning in the context of employee share schemes. This Practice Note is written in partnership with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish LLP.

This Practice Note looks at the issues arising for companies trading on AIM when designing and operating their employee and executive share schemes. It highlights the key regulatory and corporate governance issues which must be borne in mind, along with some of the tax considerations for the company and scheme participants. This Practice Note is produced in partnership with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish LLP.

This Practice Note looks at the implications of subsidiary and business transfers within the same corporate group for tax-advantaged share plans and for common types of ‘unapproved’ plan. This Practice Note is produced in partnership with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish LLP and Sara Cohen of Lewis Silkin LLP.

This is a draft letter from a company to the holder of an outstanding long-term incentive plan (LTIP) award, explaining the impact of the rights issue on their award. It will need to be personalised to meet the terms and conditions of the rights issue and to reflect the provisions in the relevant LTIP rules and award certificate. This Precedent is written in conjunction with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish.