Share Schemes : Why have I received a Penalty Notice?
HMRC Share Scheme Update...
If you’ve received a penalty notice from HMRC relating to your company’s share scheme and you’re confused, read on.
On 16 August, HMRC issued an employment-related securities bulletin explaining that HMRC has issued automatic late filing penalty notices to companies that have registered a scheme but which have not filed a return. This is because all companies with registered share schemes must register an annual return by 6 July for each tax year.
Now is the time to check why you registered a scheme and take action:
If the company share scheme was registered by mistake or is no longer required, close it. Just login to the employment related securities scheme service (accessible via the HMRC Gateway web portal), select ‘View Schemes and Arrangements’, select your scheme, enter a final event date of 5 April 2016 and submit a ‘Nil’ return.
If the company share scheme was correctly registered and you wish to maintain it but no reportable events took place during the tax year to 5 April 2016, submit a ‘Nil’ return using the steps above (but do not record it as a final event date).
If you have received a penalty notice but do nothing, you’ll receive another one on 6 October fora further £300 so it’s well worth resolving either way.