Under current legislation a corporate tax deduction is given on shares acquired through employee shares schemes. The amount of the deduction available is the amount that is chargeable to income tax when the shares are acquired by the employee or the amount that would be chargeable if the employee was a UK resident and other reliefs were unavailable.
The legislation introduced under Finance Bill 2013 clarifies that if relief is given under Part 12 CTA 2009 it is not possible to claim any other deduction for Corporation Tax in relation to those employee shares or options.
The legislation also highlights that no Corporation Tax deductions are available to a company in relation to employee share options unless shares are actually acquired by an employee in accordance with the option.
It appears these provisions are largely to prevent avoidance and should not affect genuine planning using tax efficient options such as EMI schemes.
