Employee Shareholders

Thanks to Practical Law for giving permission to reproduce their website summary (follow them on Twitter)

On 15 August 2013, HMRC updated its Share and Assets Valuation Manual (SVM) to take account of the implementation of employee shareholder employment status on 1 September 2013. In order to implement employee shareholder status, employees must, in return for giving up certain statutory employment rights, receive at lease £2,000 of shares (valued on a restricted basis). Employee shareholder shares worth up to £50,000 at acquisition (valued on an unrestricted basis) will be free from capital gains tax on disposal.

The new section of the SVM confirms that it will be possible to apply to HMRC for a valuation check prior to employee shareholder shares being awarded. A new form VAL 232 has been created for this purpose (although this does not seem to be available on HMRC's website yet). The form will require applicants to state both the restricted and unrestricted market value (perhaps in a similar way to form VAL 231, which is used for EMI valuations).