Our Share Schemes Expert Group contributed to our response to the HMRC consultation – Employee Share Schemes: NIC elections.
We generally supported the removal of NIC elections on the basis that they add no significant benefit to small and mid-size quoted companies, after taking into account of the additional administration to enter into the election. We noted that HMRC currently reviews around three NIC elections per week, which use up additional resources. Furthermore, regarding the assessment of impact, we questioned whether retaining NIC elections would affect the Apprenticeship Levy arising on employment securities.