On the 16 January 2013 the Office of Tax Simplification, which is an independent office established in July 2010 to provide advice to the Chancellor to improve and simplify the UK tax system, has produced a final report on the taxation for unapproved employee shares.
In this report they condemned the current regime stating that it was very obstructive to employees preventing them from obtaining share ownership. They have stated that this is in direct opposition to current government policy to broaden employee ownership.
– The rules are too complicated at present and these should be simplified
– The reporting requirements are too complicated and these should also be simplified
– PAYE deadlines should be relaxed on tax charges for employment related securities
– There should be a creation of an employee shareholding vehicle to encourage wider employee ownership
– The availability of HMRC share valuations and methodologies for valuation should be improved.