Tell HMRC about your employment related securities (ERS) schemes
Gifts and awards of shares in companies, often known as employment related securities (ERS), are commonly used by employers to reward, retain or provide incentives to employees. They can be tax-advantaged or non tax-advantaged.
When to tell HMRC
You must register all new ERS schemes on HMRC Online Services, including one-off awards or gifts of shares.
New tax-advantaged schemes should be registered by 6 July following the tax year they were established.
For Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) schemes, you must tell HMRC about a grant of an EMI option within 92 days of the date of the grant.
The following schemes cannot be registered after 6 July:
- Share Incentive Plans
- Save as You Earn
- Company Share Option Plans
You only need to register schemes without a tax advantage when there’s a reportable event, for example acquiring or disposing of securities, or assigning or releasing securities options.
What you’ll need
To register your ERS scheme, you need an employer PAYE reference number. You can get this from HMRC PAYE Online Service for employers, which you can access with your Government Gateway user ID and password.
If you need to register as an employer, it can take up to 5 working days to get your PAYE reference number.
You need to add the ERS service to HMRC Online Services before you can register an ERS scheme with us.
How to add the ERS service to HMRC Online Services
-
Sign in to HMRC Online Services for employers.
-
Select ‘Add a tax, duty or scheme now’.
-
Select ‘Employers or intermediaries, for example PAYE for employers or CIS’.
-
Select ‘Employment related securities (ERS)’.
How to register an ERS scheme with HMRC
Once the ERS service has been added to HMRC Online Services, you can register ERS schemes with us.
-
Sign in to HMRC Online Services for employers.
-
Select ‘ERS Online Service’.
-
Select ‘Register a scheme or arrangement’.
-
Select the scheme type you want to register and click ‘Next’.
-
Fill in the self certification declaration.
-
Re-enter your sign in details to complete the registration.
HMRC will allocate a scheme reference number within 7 days of registering an ERS scheme. You can find your reference number on HMRC Online Services by selecting ‘View schemes and arrangements’.
After you’ve registered
You must submit an ERS return for each registered ERS scheme every year until you cease the scheme, even if there is no reportable event. ERS returns must be submitted by 6 July following the end of the tax year or you may have to pay a penalty.
How to authorise an agent to submit ERS returns
If you want an agent to submit an ERS return on your behalf, they need to be authorised to do so first. To do this, you can either:
- ask the agent to complete the authorisation
- authorise the agent using the HMRC Online Services for employers, in your business tax account
Read more about how to authorise an agent through your business tax account.
Tell HMRC that your ERS scheme has ceased
To tell HMRC about the cessation of your ERS scheme, you’ll need the Government Gateway user ID and password you used when you told HMRC about the scheme (ERS agents cannot cease an ERS scheme).
-
Sign in to HMRC Online Services for employers.
-
Select ‘View schemes and arrangements’.
-
Select the scheme which you need to cease. You’ll be taken to another screen after selecting the scheme.
-
Select ‘End of year returns’.
-
Select ‘Provide a date of final event’ and enter the date the ERS stopped (the date can be in the past, but an annual return must be submitted for the tax year in which the final event date falls).
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or need further assistance. We can help you.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs