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View the related Tax Guidance about Loan notes

Employment-related securities ― PAYE

Employment-related securities ― PAYEIntroductionAwards of securities, exercise (or vesting) of securities options and certain other events relating to employment related securities (ERS) may be liable to income tax as earnings under ITEPA 2003 s 62, or the special ERS rules under ITEPA 2003 ss 417 – 554 (Part 7).The tax charges may be personal tax charges for the employee via self-assessment, or employers may be obliged to withhold income tax and NIC under PAYE.This note aims to set out which ERS related tax charges, and in what circumstances, employers must operate PAYE and NIC, and the practical implications of doing so.Share awardsAn outright award of ERS represents ‘money’s worth’ and is taxable under ITEPA 2003, s 62. The taxable amount is the market value of the securities less any payment made by the employee. Market value is de-fined at TCGA 1992 ss 272 - 273The ‘money’s worth’ taxable amount may be a personal tax liability of the employee, payable via their self-assessment tax return, or there may be a liability to withhold income tax and NIC under PAYE for the employer. This depends on whether the securities are considered to be ‘readily convertible assets’ (RCAs). Where the ERS are RCAs, income tax and NIC will be due via PAYE. Where the ERS are not RCAs, income tax will be due via the employee’s self-assessment tax return with no NIC due.What are Readily Convertible Assets?RCAs are defined in ITEPA 2003 s 702. The intention of the category of RCAs is

Succession planning― overview

Succession planning― overviewThe planning for passing on a family company or business to future generations should be done well in advance of the current owners taking retirement or dying. There will be issues around who the business should be passed on to, for example, the owners’ children , employees of the company or a sale to a third party. It will also have to be decided whether the owners want to continue receiving income from the business and whether they wish to still have some involvement through maintaining share ownership. There are also tax considerations to bear in mind especially involving CGT and IHT. This guidance note summarises some of the succession options and links to further technical commentary. The succession options reviewed here are as follows:•transferring the assets on death to the children of the owners•transferring business assets by way of a gift during the lifetime of the owners•purchase of own shares by the company•buy-out by family members or management•passing the business over into an employee ownership trust (EOT)•keeping the company as a family investment company (FIC)•sale to a third party Transferring business assets on deathThe owners of a family company may want to keep their shares until they die and then pass them onto their children at death. For tax purposes this can have advantages as unquoted shareholdings meeting the qualifying conditions in a trading company will qualify for 100% business property relief (BPR) reducing the value transferred for IHT

Investors’ relief

Investors’ reliefInvestors’ relief is a capital gains tax (CGT) relief on the disposal of qualifying shares in an unlisted company. A taxpayer making a disposal that qualifies for investors’ relief will pay tax at a rate of 10%.Investors’ relief is aimed at incentivising external investment. It is not intended to be accessible by individuals whose natural means of capital gains relief on a disposal would be business asset disposal relief (BADR). Accordingly, most employees and directors will not be entitled to investors’ relief.Also, unlike BADR, there is no requirement to hold a minimum number of shares in the company. There is a lifetime limit on the relief of £1m (£10m for disposals prior to 30 October 2024), which is in addition to that applying for BADR. The rules for investors’ relief are contained in TCGA 1992, ss 169VA–169VY. HMRC guidance on investors’ relief can be found at CG63500P. At the Autumn Budget 2024 it was announced that the rate of investors’ relief will increase to 14% for disposals made on or after 6 April 2025, and from 14% to 18% for disposals made on or after 6 April 2026. It was also announced at the Budget that the main rates of CGT will increase from 10% to 18% (basic rate) and 20% to 24% (higher rate) for disposals on or after 30 October 2024. Therefore from April 2026 the investors’ relief rate will match the basic rate of CGT. There are also anti-forestalling rules which apply from 30 October

Preparing for an employment-related securities due diligence exercise

Preparing for an employment-related securities due diligence exercise IntroductionDue diligence (DD) exercises looking at employment-related securities (ERS) and share schemes take place in a number of circumstances but broadly all with the same aim ― to look at risk areas around ERS and share schemes where there could be liabilities, penalties or other risks for the company. Where possible, the DD report will quantify those risks. It is worth noting that tax liabilities which do not rest with the company are not usually within the scope of a DD report eg income tax charges which fall solely on an employee or director would not be within scope, but income tax due via PAYE would be.An ERS DD could be expected when any mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is due to take place. This includes, but is not limited to:•when marketing the company for sale•a bank or other lender considers making a loan to the company•a person or organisation considers investing in a business•when preparing to list on a stock exchange via initial public offering (IPO)It is unusual for an ERS DD to be a stand-alone exercise unless it has already been identified as a high-risk area for the company; it is more likely to occur as part of a broader tax DD or as part of a full financial, tax and legal DD project. This note aims to explain what information a company is likely to be asked to provide, but please note that the

Weekly case highlights ― 28 October 2024

Weekly case highlights ― 28 October 2024These are our brief notes and thoughts on cases published in the last week or so which caught our eye and are likely to be of particular interest to tax practitioners. Full case reports and commentary on most of these cases will be included within our normal reference sources in the coming weeks.Business taxGCH v HMRCThis is an unusual case because it concerns an arrangement which was notified under DOTAS but which the tribunal has accepted was effective in avoiding a capital gains tax charge which would otherwise have arisen. It involved a group of shareholders selling shares in a public company in exchange for loan notes. Those loan notes were then contributed as capital to an LLP which was subsequently liquidated. The tax planning relied on the fact that the contribution of the loan notes by way of capital by the individuals would not trigger a capital gains charge provided that the LLP was trading or carrying on a business with a view to profit. However, the base cost of the loan notes would still be taken into account in computing tax liabilities at the point that the LLP was liquidated, with the effect that little or no tax would be paid on the funds received by the LLP members on liquidation. The end result was that the gain on the original share disposal simply disappeared.The case therefore hinged on the status of the LLP. The tribunal had little difficulty in determining

Introduction to management buy-outs (MBO)

Introduction to management buy-outs (MBO)Basic structure of the MBOAn MBO takes place when the management team, which typically includes directors and first tier management, enters into an agreement to purchase an existing business. The usual form of an MBO is either:•the acquisition of the shares in the target company (Target) by a company newly incorporated by the management team to make the acquisition (Newco)•the acquisition of the trade and assets of Target by Newco•the transfer of Target’s trade to a subsidiary of Target (Target Subco) followed by Newco’s acquisition of Target Subco (known as a hive-down)Other structuring considerations ― funding for the transactionThe management team will invest funds into the new structure, which will usually consist of a combination of share capital and loan financing (eg loan notes). The purchase of by the MBO will often be financed out of current and future reserves of Target and there are two possible ways of doing this:•the Target could pay a dividend to Newco and Newco uses the funds to repay the debt to the vendor shareholders•the Target lends funds to Newco, ie makes an upstream loan, which then allows Newco to repay part of the debt but see belowHowever the second alternative can cause a problem and fall within the loans to participator rules as an indirect loan, see the Loans to participators guidance note. An indirect loans applies where two conditions are met. Firstly, a close company makes a loan or advance which does

Demerger via liquidation ― tax analysis

Demerger via liquidation ― tax analysisThis guidance note follows on from the Demerger via a liquidation ― overview guidance note which gives an introduction to demergers via liquidations (also known as non-statutory demergers, or section 110 demergers) and includes diagrams to illustrate a typical demerger via liquidation. HMRC clearances will be required if this demerger route is chosen and appropriate time should be built into the transactions process for these. For more information, see the Demerger clearances guidance note.For overall guidance on demergers, including choice of the most appropriate route and planning the demerger project, see the Demergers ― overview guidance note.Tax analysis of a liquidation demerger ― overviewThere is more than one method for carrying out a liquidation demerger. However, the typical steps for carrying out a liquidation demerger are shown below. Depending on the steps involved, tax charges can be triggered either at the corporate or shareholder level (or both). For a more detailed description of the steps involved in a liquidation demerger, see the Demerger via a liquidation ― overview guidance note.A high-level overview of the steps and related tax implications are as follows:StepDescription of stepTax implications ― shareholder levelTax implications ― corporate levelOneInsert a new holding company (Liquidation HoldCo) above the current holding companyProvided HMRC accepts that the share exchange is driven by commercial reasons (confirmed by a TCGA 1992, s 138 tax clearance), the shareholders will not trigger any capital gain on the

Takeovers

TakeoversSTOP PRESS: The remittance basis is to be abolished from 6 April 2025, although this only applies to foreign income and gains arising on or after that date. The remittance basis rules still apply to unremitted income and gains arising before that date but remitted later. The legislation is included in Finance Bill 2025. For more details, see the Abolition of the remittance basis from 2025/26 guidance note.When one company acquires control of another company, this is called a takeover. This guidance note considers the capital gains tax (CGT) implications for shareholders of the company being taken over.The consideration paid by a purchasing company to the shareholder(s) for their shares in a target company could be either:•wholly in cash•new securities in the vendor in exchange for shares in the target company (a ‘share-for-share exchange’), or•a mixture of cash plus new securitiesCash considerationA chargeable gain or allowable loss will arise if all or part of the consideration given to the vendor on a takeover involves cash.Wholly in cashIf the old shares are exchanged for cash, this is a disposal of all of the original shares and a gain or loss will arise. This is calculated in the normal way using the share matching rules. For guidance on calculating the gain on share disposals, see the Disposal of shares ― individuals guidance note.Cash plus new securitiesIf the old shares are exchanged for a mixture of new securities plus cash, this is a part disposal for CGT. A gain

Tax implications of share sale

Tax implications of share saleA business can be sold either by selling the shares in the company that runs it (a share sale) or by that company setting the trade and assets directly (an asset sale). See the Comparison of share sale and trade and asset sale for an overview of the main tax differences in these two sale structures.When a company is disposed of by way of a sale of its shares, its ‘history’ including its tax history is transferred along with the shares. The due diligence process aims to identify any contingent or hidden tax, commercial or financial liabilities which may potentially fall on the purchaser in the future. In addition to general tax risks, many companies deferred tax bills due to coronavirus (COVID-19), sometimes under bespoke arrangements. If that is the case, careful due diligence will need to be undertaken in order to determine exactly what has been deferred, when it is due and how the cost will be funded. If the tax due diligence uncovers material potential tax risks or liabilities, this may lead to:•negotiation of specific warranties or indemnities relating to the potential tax exposure in question in the sale and purchase agreement•a reduction in the price payable for the shares, or•a change to the structure of the deal to work around the potential issueIn a worst-case scenario where the potential tax liability is very large in the context of the transaction in question and outweighs the commercial benefits, the deal

Penalties where agent is acting

Penalties where agent is actingIntroductionUnder the penalty legislation introduced by FA 2007, Sch 24, where an inaccuracy has occurred on a return or other document which leads to an understatement of tax, the taxpayer is exposed to a penalty.The rate of the penalty is based on the behaviour of the person and whether the disclosure of the error was prompted by HMRC. Once the rate has been calculated, this is then applied to the potential lost revenue (PLR), which is the extra tax due as a result of correcting the inaccuracy or under-assessment, in order to determine the amount of the penalty due.The behaviour of the taxpayer is covered in more detail in the Calculating the penalty for inaccuracies in returns ― behaviour of the taxpayer guidance note. The PLR is discussed in the Calculating the penalty for inaccuracies ― potential lost revenue guidance note. The quality of the disclosure made to HMRC is covered in the Penalty reductions for inaccuracies guidance note.Inaccuracies when an agent is actingThe taxpayer can be held liable for an inaccuracy in return prepared by an agent. However, the taxpayer is not liable to a penalty in relation to anything done or omitted by the agent if HMRC is satisfied that the taxpayer took reasonable care to avoid an inaccuracy. This would mean that the taxpayer would need evidence that reasonable care had been taken over the tax affairs. For a discussion of reasonable care, see the Reasonable care ― inaccuracies in returns guidance