Warranty and indemnity insurance is now a common feature in M&A deals.
Sellers will typically anticipate at the outset that if the deal is backed by W&I insurance, their liability under the SPA warranties and Tax Covenant will be capped at £1.
What is often not appreciated (sometimes by buyers and sellers alike) is that there will be a number of things that a Tax Covenant (and Tax...
Read moreEIS deferral relief/SEIS reinvestment relief: often forgotten
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a UK venture capital scheme renowned for the generous tax reliefs it offers investors when investing in private companies.
Along with its related relief (SEIS, for smaller start-up companies,) it provides income tax relief on the amount invested and a CGT free exit if all the conditions are met...
Read moreEMI options are the most attractive form of employee share incentives available, however they won’t always be available, for example where:The company is too big, in terms of numbers of employees or gross assets;
The company carries on EMI-excluded activity or has investment activities;
The individual is not a full-time employee;
The individual already has £250,000 worth of EMI options, or...
Read moreOn 11 July 2023, the Finance (No 2) Bill 2023 received Royal Assent.
This has given effect to a number of relaxations and increases in limits relevant to tax-advantaged share options and share investments:
Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) Options
The requirement to include within the option contract details of any restrictions that apply to the shares no longer applies. As best practice, we...
Read moreThe deadline for employers to report events in relation to employment related shares (and other securities) and share options in respect of tax year 2022/23 is 6 July 2023.
Most companies will know that if they operate an HMRC-approved or tax-advantaged share option / incentive scheme such as EMI, CSOP, SIP or SAYE, there is an annual reporting requirement in relation to events happening during...
Read moreTax Bite – Highlights of “Tax Day” – Stamp duty reform, and possible changes for EOTs?
Last Thursday 27 April was “Tax Administration and Maintenance Day”, which involved the publication of various consultations and proposals on tax measures, and the promise of more consultations to come.
Of most interest to those advising companies and their shareholders were:
The announcement that there will be...
Read moreProperty Tax Bite – “Tax Day” – Possible reforms to the Construction Industry Scheme
Last Thursday 27 April was “Tax Administration and Maintenance Day”, which involved the publication of various consultations and proposals on tax measures, and the promise of more consultations to come.
Of most of interest to those advising on property tax matters was the publication of a consultation on proposed...
Read moreTax Bite - The Budget
The Budget of 15 March was relatively benign in terms of major tax announcements for business but did have a few welcome highlights. There were no changes made to the headline tax rates – so corporation tax will still increase to 25% from 1 April for companies with annual profits in excess of £250k – and BADR was left untouched.
Full expensing
The main announcement for...
Read moreThe basic rule, albeit subject to numerous exceptions, is that a sale or lease of a property is exempt from VAT.
The most commonly encountered exception to that rule for non-residential property is where the person making the supply has opted to tax the relevant property for VAT purposes, resulting in the supply being subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%.
Whether or not a seller or landlord...
Read moreIn October, HMRC published its long-awaited (at least by advisers) guidance on the use of discretions in EMI options.
There has been a long period of uncertainty, during which it was not clear in what circumstances HMRC would regard the exercise of a discretionary power in an EMI option contract as:
Not affecting the tax-advantaged EMI status of the option; or
A change to a fundamental term of...
Read moreTax Bite – EMI share valuations – HMRC’s latest approach
In addition to the various tax advantages of EMI options, the ability to agree the market value of the option shares with HMRC is a very useful further benefit of EMI. If shares are simply issued/transferred outside of an EMI option, there is no ability to agree the share value with HMRC and shares in a private limited company are...
Read moreProperty Tax Bite – SDLT – Mixed use and MDR update – and “mini-Budget” 2022
In our last Tax Bite, we noted that a consultation had been launched on whether to update the SDLT rules around mixed use purchases (i.e. involving both residential and non-residential land) and multiple dwellings relief (MDR), where two or more dwellings are purchased in a single transaction.
The consultation has...
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