Equity is taxed at moments, not on payday.
EMI options, RSUs and growth shares each have their own trigger points. Knowing which moment creates a tax charge — and which one creates a bill without any cash to pay it — is most of the work.
You were granted something, and nobody explained what happens next
Equity is usually handed over with a scheme document and very little else. The tax consequences land on you personally, often years later, and often in a year when you have no cash from it.
Granting equity rather than holding it?
If you run the company issuing the shares, the design, valuation and reporting side sits with our business team.
The charge attaches to an event, not to a date you choose
The sequence below is the general shape. Which steps actually create a charge, and at what rate, depends on the scheme you were granted and the terms attached to it — which is exactly why it needs looking at rather than assuming.
Generally not a taxable event in itself. The scheme type, the exercise price and any agreed valuation are all fixed here, and they determine everything downstream.
For RSUs this is commonly the point at which value is treated as employment income, whether or not you have sold anything. This is where a bill can arrive without cash attached.
Whether a charge arises here, and whether it is employment income or a gain, turns on the scheme. Approved schemes and unapproved options are treated very differently.
Growth after the earlier taxing point is generally dealt with as a capital gain, reportable on your own return.
Your employer has annual employment-related securities reporting to complete. Your own obligations sit on your Self Assessment return, and the two need to agree.
Work out the position, then plan around it
Reading the scheme documents and establishing which awards you have and how each is treated.
Talk to us → 02 · TimingWhen the charge landsMapping vesting and exercise against tax years, so nothing arrives unannounced.
Talk to us → 03 · ReturnSelf Assessment reportingEquity events reported correctly, reconciled to what your employer has put through payroll.
Talk to us → 04 · DisposalGains on saleReporting the disposal, matching rules where you hold shares acquired at different times.
See how it works → 05 · Cross-borderEquity across countriesAwards granted in one country and vesting in another, where more than one tax system has a claim.
See how it works → 06 · CashFunding the billPlanning for charges that arise before there is anything liquid to sell, which is the common trap.
Talk to us →The ones that come up every year
My options have not been exercised. Do I need to do anything?
Often not yet, but it is worth knowing now what will happen when you do, and in which tax year it will fall. The choices you have are widest before exercise, not after.
My RSUs vested but I did not sell. Why is there tax to pay?
For many RSU arrangements, vesting is the point at which value is treated as employment income, regardless of whether you sold. That is why a charge can arise in a year when you have received no cash.
What is the difference between EMI and unapproved options?
EMI is a statutory scheme with specific qualifying conditions for both the company and the employee, and materially different tax treatment from an unapproved option. Which one you hold should be clear from the grant documents, and it changes the answer to almost every other question.
My employer is overseas. Does that change things?
It can, both in how the award is reported and in whether another country also has a claim over part of the value. Where equity has been earned across more than one country, the position needs looking at properly rather than assuming the UK treatment applies to all of it.
Everything is being sold in an exit. When should I get advice?
Before the transaction completes. Once the sale has happened, the reporting has to be right, but the planning window has closed.
You will know the number before we start
Engagements start at £450, priced by the engagement and fixed before we begin. All figures exclude VAT.
How our pricing works →Send us the scheme documents.
A short set of questions about what you were granted, when it vests and where you were living at the time. We come back with a scope and a fixed price. If we are not the right firm for you, we will say so rather than quote for it.
Start scoping →