Introduction Summary
1.This section and Schedule introduce a relief from capital gains tax and an exemption from income tax relevant to the creation and operation of legal structures in which a trading company is owned by a particular sort of trust for the benefit of employees.
2.Part 1 of the Schedule introduces a relief from capital gains tax on disposals of shares in a trading company or in the parent company of a trading group. The disposals must be made to a trust with specified characteristics, and the trustees must hold a defined controlling interest in the company at the end of the tax year for which the relief is claimed. The trustees must apply the trust’s property for the benefit of all the eligible employees of the company (or, as the case may be, the group headed by the company).
3.Part 2 of this Schedule introduces an exemption from income tax for up to £3,600 per employment on a qualifying bonus payment in any tax year. The qualifying bonus payment must be one made to its employees (and any qualifying former employees) by a company which is owned directly or indirectly by a trust of the type specified in Part 1 at the time of the payment and which meets the qualifying conditions. A qualifying bonus payment will be an award other than regular salary or wages that is paid to all employees of the company (or the group of which it is a member) on equal terms, although bonus amounts can be set by reference to a percentage of salary or length of service or hours worked.
4.Part 3 of this Schedule makes amendments to inheritance tax provisions to support the creation and operation of the trust. It ensures that transfers to the trust and the trust itself are exempt from inheritance tax charges in cases where the conditions for the existing exemptions which apply to employee benefit trusts are not met.
5.Part 4 of this Schedule makes miscellaneous amendments consequent upon Parts 1-3.