Registration and self-certification of tax-advantaged share schemes

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Helen Wood of HLN WD TX
Employment Tax
Guidance

Registration and self-certification of tax-advantaged share schemes

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Helen Wood of HLN WD TX
Employment Tax
Guidance
imgtext

This guidance note provides practical information about the HMRC registration and self-certification requirements for companies operating any of the following types of tax-advantaged share schemes:

  1. •

    share incentive plan (SIP)

  2. •

    save as you earn schemes (SAYE)

  3. •

    company share option plans (CSOP)

  4. •

    enterprise management incentive schemes (EMI)

It also covers the notification of grant of EMI options.

Background

Any company operating a tax-advantaged share scheme is required to register the scheme with HMRC using HMRC’s employment related securities (ERS) online service.

The company must also make an annual return in respect of such scheme by 6 July following the end of each tax year throughout the life of the scheme and, in respect of SIP, SAYE and CSOP schemes, make an annual declaration (or ‘self-certification’) that the scheme continues to satisfy the relevant statutory requirements. See the Annual reporting for tax-advantaged share schemes guidance note for more information about the annual returns process.

Registering for HMRC's online services

Before a company can register its share scheme, it must

Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
TAKE A FREE TRIAL NOW
Helen Wood
Helen Wood linkedinicon

Founder, HLN WD TX , Employment Tax

Helen Wood is the founder of HLN WD TX, a share schemes and employee incentives advisory business.She qualified as a CA with ICAS in 2009 and has worked as a specialist reward and incentives advisor for 17 years, spending 13 of those at KPMG followed by 3 ½ years as an Associate Director at RSM. Helen has worked with businesses ranging from start-ups to fully listed companies, spanning owner-managed businesses, private equity portfolio companies, and AIM listed businesses.She advises on a wide range of employee share schemes and employment related securities matters including the design and implementation of effective management and employee incentives; tax valuation of employment related securities, buy and sell side transaction support, HMRC compliance, tax due diligence and employee ownership trust transactions.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Tolley+™
  • 18 Feb 2026 11:30

Home/ Tolley Tax Guidance/ Employment Tax / Providing share awards to employees

Popular Articles

Personal Tax

Foreign tax relief

Foreign tax reliefIncome and gains may be taxable in more than one country. The UK has three ways of ensuring that the individual does not bear a double burden:1)treaty tax relief may reduce or eliminate the double tax2)if there is no treaty, the individual can claim ‘unilateral’ relief by deducting

14 Jul 2020 11:44 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
tag-icon Tax Returns
Owner-Managed Businesses

Class 4 national insurance contributions

Class 4 national insurance contributionsWhat is Class 4 NIC?Class 2 and Class 4 national insurance contributions (NIC) are paid by self-employed individuals and partners in a partnership on their profits arising within the UK. This guidance note considers Class 4 contributions. For Class 2

14 Jul 2020 11:13 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
Value Added Tax

Payments on account (POA)

Payments on account (POA)This guidance note provides and overview of the payments on account regime (POA). More in depth commentary can be found in De Voil Indirect Tax Service V5.110.What are payments on account?VAT registered businesses with an annual VAT liability of more than £2.3m are required

14 Jul 2020 12:52 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more