Employment Related Securities Bulletin 54 (February 2024)
Find out about changes to Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) end of year return template and Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) notification deadlines from 6 April 2024, and annual filing deadline reminders.
Changes to Employment Related Securities (ERS) end of year return template for Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) from 6 April 2024
Changes to the CSOP share options limit were announced on 23 September 2022. From 6 April 2023, the value of share options that can be held by an individual increased from £30,000 to £60,000.
To reflect this change:
- guidance and technical notes have been published on 6 February 2024
- the end of year template and submission checking service will be updated from 6 April 2024
We are providing advance notice of the change to the guidance and technical notes. This means you can prepare to use the new template, or use the guidance and technical notes to generate your own template ready to submit your end of year return.
Changes to the Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) notification deadline for options granted on or after 6 April 2024
At the Spring Budget 2023, the government announced 3 changes to simplify the process to grant options under the EMI scheme.
We told you in Bulletin 49 about 2 changes applied to EMI options granted on or after 6 April 2023, and these were included in the Finance (No.2) Act 2023.
The third change will apply to EMI options granted on or after 6 April 2024, and were published in the Finance Bill 2023-24. This will extend the time limit for a company to notify HMRC of the grant of an EMI option.
For EMI options granted on or after 6 April 2024
A company must notify HMRC of the grant by 6 July following the end of the tax year in which the grant was made. A company can still notify HMRC of options granted during the tax year in which they were granted.
For EMI options granted before 6 April 2024
A company must still notify HMRC of the grant within 92 days following the grant.
End of year deadline
If you operate an employee share scheme you must file an end of year Employment Related Securities (ERS) return.
For the 2023 to 2024 tax year, you must submit an end of year ERS return on or before 6 July 2024. If you miss this deadline, you will receive a late filing penalty.
You must submit a return or nil return for every scheme that you’ve registered on the ERS online service.
If you’ve registered a scheme in error, or it’s no longer operating, you should cease the scheme. You must still submit an annual return for the tax year in which the final event date falls.
Find out when and how to tell HMRC about your employment related securities schemes to:
- submit an ERS return
- cease a scheme
- submit a nil return
Penalties for late filing
A £100 penalty will be issued automatically if the end of year ERS return, including nil returns where appropriate, is not submitted by 6 July 2024.
Additional automatic penalties of £300 will be charged if the return is still outstanding 3 months after the original deadline of 6 July, and a further £300 if it’s still outstanding 6 months after that date.
Even if you’ve received and paid the initial penalty, you must still submit an end of year or nil return to meet your filing obligations.
Saving copies of your return and notifications
Before you submit your ERS return or EMI notification, you need to save a copy of it for your own records.
If you’re uploading an EMI notification attachment, you should save a copy of the file. If you’re filling in the details online, you may want to take screenshots of each page and save them along with the confirmation page.
You’ll not be able to access a copy of what you submit through the online service once you’ve submitted it.