UK: Updated HMRC Guidance On End Of Year Return Templates And Using The ERS Service, And Changes To CSOP Schemes To Come Into Effect

Updated HMRC guidance on end of year return templates

HMRC has announced in Employment Related Securities Bulletin 47 that it will be introducing some changes to Employment Related Securities (ERS) annual filings templates from 6 April 2023.

Under the new ERS templates, completion of the following optional fields will become mandatory for returns submitted on or after 6 April 2023 (i.e. returns for the current tax year onwards):

1. the 'PAYE Reference of the employing company' fields;
2. the 'Is PAYE operated Y/N' field; and
3. the National Insurance number field.

Companies who use the existing HMRC template and provide entries for all data fields in their returns will not need to take any action, but those who do not currently provide this optional data will need to ensure it is being collated in time for the filing deadline of 6 July 2023.

Updated ERS filing guidance and technical notes will be published in February 2023 and updated templates will be available from 6 April 2023.

The bulletin also confirms that HMRC has clarified its guidance on when and how to register for the ERS service, register a new ERS scheme, or to notify HMRC that an ERS scheme has ceased. This can be accessed here.

Changes to the CSOP scheme to come into effect from 6 April 2023

Further to the announcement as part of the government's 'mini budget' in September (see our blog post here), Bulletin 47 confirms that changes to the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) share options limit and share class restrictions will take effect from 6 April 2023. HMRC has confirmed that no action needs to be taken to amend existing CSOP plans and that it will provide further updates in due course.