The following Corporation Tax guidance note by Tolley provides comprehensive and up to date tax information covering:
The share incentive plan (SIP) is a tax-advantaged employee incentive plan, which provides employees with the opportunity to obtain a continuing stake in their employing company through the acquisition of shares (not share options). Provided qualifying conditions are met, the SIP attracts income tax and National Insurance contribution (NIC) advantages for participants. Whilst SIPs involve employees rather than companies, it is important that those working in the corporate tax arena have a working knowledge of SIPs as such professionals could be asked to be involved in the setting up of such plans.
The SIP must be operated via a UK resident trust. The SIP trust holds shares on behalf of employees.
The plan must be open to all UK resident employees, although a qualifying period of up to 18 months can be imposed. The terms must be the same for every employee who wishes to participate, and no preferential treatment can be given for directors or senior employees.
As a result of a review into tax-advantaged employee share schemes by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) in 2012, a number of changes were made to the SIP rules by FA 2013 and FA 2014 to simplify the administration of the scheme and harmonise some of the rules with that of other tax-advantaged schemes. One of these changes means that from 6 April 2014, a qualifying SIP is known as a ‘Schedule 2 SIP’.
All UK resident eligible employees must be able to participate in the plan, and must be invited to do so.
An employee is regarded as an ‘eligible’ employee if:
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