Employee Share Schemes

In the current economic climate employee share schemes and options present an excellent opportunity for employers to align the interests of employees with the interests of the owners of a business. If properly structured, such schemes can assist in retaining existing employees and attracting future employees with no cash payment from the employer and low risk to the employee. We have expertise with Revenue approved schemes such as Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), Company Share Option Plans (CSOP), Save As You Earn (SAYE) and Share Incentive Plans (SIP), together with unapproved schemes such as Long Term Incentive Plans (LTIP), Joint Share Ownership Plans (JSOP) and other bespoke unapproved schemes (Unapproved Schemes ) We can also advise on other incentives which are not “schemes” as such (Other “Share Schemes”).

The structure of the share scheme is vitally important for taxation purposes. Benefits accruing to the employee which are derived from the scheme can be treated as income and not capital (and taxed accordingly) if the documentation is not properly structured. It is important to comply with current tax legislation so as to secure beneficial tax treatment by correctly drafting the option scheme agreement. We can assist with your dealings with the Revenue in this regard.

As part of our wider service we can advise you of the implications of any share dilution arising from a share scheme, help you draft the performance conditions attaching to a scheme and update your existing articles of association to address the existence of the share option scheme.