HMRC ERS - Employment-related securities

From tax year end 2015 returns must be submitted online via HMRC’s Online Service with the appropriately formatted spreadsheet attached. The template for the spreadsheet created by HMRC must be used for this purpose and has been incorporated into Company Secretarial.

For more information from HMRC on ERS online filing see:

Currently the ERS form for ‘Other ERS schemes or arrangements’ will be produced in IRIS populating only the ‘Other Acquisition’ worksheet and where:

Description of asset defaults to Shares (1)
Security type is unrestricted (2).

An ERS submission is required for each tax year where employment related securities have been issued or traded, the current tax year that the return will be generated for is 6th April to 5th April.

This means all qualifying events that are entered with a date that is within this tax year will automatically trigger ERS/Form 42.

Conditions for completion of ERS/Form 42

This table explains when an ERS return is required and whether Company Secretarial will complete the form automatically:

	Employee related?	Unrestricted shares?	Part of a scheme?	Approved by scheme?	IRISPTP completes form?
ERS(15) required	YES	NO	-	-	NO
	YES	YES	NO	-	YES
	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES
ERS(15) not required	NO	-	-	-	NO
	YES	NO	YES	YES	NO
	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO

Nil Returns

HMRC requires companies operating tax advantaged and/or non-tax advantaged employee share schemes to complete a return even if no new share issues have been made that year.

From April 2015 employers must submit all end of year returns via HMRC’s Online ERS Service. When submitting a nil return an attachment is not required.

Only the following details will be required to submit a nil return:

Company Name
Company Address
Company Postcode
Company Registration Number
Corporation Tax Reference

Form Activation

There are two ways to activate this form:

Method 1 - Manual

To activate a completed form go to Client | View select the History tab and click Log New. The Log Client History Event screen displays, select employment related securities and then enter the date that the form is due. Click OK and it adds the item into the history screen as well as activating a completed form.

Method 2 - Automatic

To activate a completed form go to Edit | Share Register, select Events tab. Click New | Share/Bonus/Rights/Scrip issue. Enter the necessary details including whether the issue is Employee Related, for Share unrestricted, whether the shares are part of a scheme and if that scheme is an approved or unapproved scheme. Once the details are complete click OK ensuring there is a tick next to Log share/bonus/rights/scrip issue to client’s history.

To Display the Form

To print the completed form, go to Reports | Company forms, highlight ERS and click Print Form.

The completed ERS/Form 42 must be reviewed with care. The form may not be complete; it is the users responsibility to ensure that the correct details are included and if not to amend the form accordingly.
For further guidance, go to https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-about-your-employment-related-securities to view the latest HMRC ERS Guidance documents.