Guidance

Tell HMRC about your employment related securities schemes

When and how to tell HMRC about new employment related securities (ERS) schemes, or schemes that have ceased.

You must register all new ERS schemes on HMRC Online Services, including one-off awards or gifts of shares.

Gifts and awards of shares in companies, often known as employment related securities (ERS), are commonly used by employers to reward, retain or provide incentives to employees. They can be tax-advantaged or non tax-advantaged.

Agents
You will only be able to view and file returns on employment related securities (ERS) schemes that have already been registered — you will not be able to register or cease an ERS scheme.

Find out how to register as a professional tax agent.

When to tell HMRC

New tax-advantaged schemes should be registered by 6 July following the tax year they were established.

The following schemes cannot be registered after 6 July:

  • Share Incentive Plans
  • Save as You Earn
  • Company Share Option Plans

You only need to register schemes without a tax advantage when there’s a reportable event, for example acquiring or disposing of securities, or assigning or releasing securities options.

For Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) schemes

You must tell HMRC about a grant of an EMI option within 92 days of the date of grant if the option was granted before 6 April 2024.

If it was granted on or after 6 April 2024, you must tell HMRC about this on or before 6 July following the end of the tax year in which the grant is made.

If you fail to notify HMRC within these deadlines you risk losing any tax benefits for you and your employees.

Before you register

  1. You need to add the ERS service to HMRC Online Services before you can register an ERS scheme with us.

  2. To register, you need an employer PAYE reference number — get this from HMRC PAYE Online Service for employers using your Government Gateway user ID and password.

If you need to register as an employer, it can take up to 15 working days to get your PAYE reference number.

Add the ERS service to HMRC Online Services

  1. Sign in to HMRC Online Services for employers.

  2. Select ‘Add a tax, duty or scheme now’.

  3. Select ‘Employers or intermediaries, for example PAYE for employers or CIS’.

  4. Select ‘Employment related securities (ERS)’.

Register an ERS scheme with HMRC

Once the ERS service has been added to HMRC Online Services, you can register ERS schemes with us.

  1. Sign in to HMRC Online Services for employers.

  2. Select ‘ERS Online Service’.

  3. Select ‘Register a scheme or arrangement’.

  4. Select the scheme type you want to register and click ‘Next’.

  5. Fill in the self certification declaration.

  6. Re-enter your sign in details to complete the registration.

HMRC will allocate a scheme reference number within 7 days of registering an ERS scheme. You can find your reference number on HMRC Online Services by selecting ‘View schemes and arrangements’.

After you’ve registered

You must submit your ERS return by 6 July following the end of the tax year or you may have to pay a penalty.

You must:

  1. Submit an ERS return for each registered ERS scheme every year until you cease the scheme, even if there is no reportable event.

  2. Keep a copy of your return for your own records.

How to authorise an agent to submit ERS returns

You will need to authorise your agent if you want them to submit an ERS return on your behalf. To do this, you can either:

Read more about how to authorise an agent through your business tax account.

Tell HMRC that your ERS scheme has ceased

To tell HMRC about the cessation of your ERS scheme, you’ll need the Government Gateway user ID and password you used when you told HMRC about the scheme (ERS agents cannot cease an ERS scheme).

  1. Sign in to HMRC Online Services for employers.

  2. Select ‘View schemes and arrangements’.

  3. Select the scheme which you need to cease. You’ll be taken to another screen after selecting the scheme.

  4. Select ‘End of year returns’.

  5. Select ‘Provide a date of final event’ and enter the date the ERS stopped (the date can be in the past, but an annual return must be submitted for the tax year in which the final event date falls).

Published 1 January 2014
Last updated 6 February 2024 + show all updates
  1. We have updated the guidance with more information about when to tell HMRC about a grant of an Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) option.

  2. Before you submit your employment related securities return or notification, you need to save a copy of it for your own records. This is because the online service will not save the details and you will not be able to access them again.

  3. If you need to register as an employer, it can now take up to 15 working days to get your PAYE reference number.

  4. A Welsh translation has been added,

  5. Information about the 2 ways an agent can be authorised has been added to the 'How to authorise an agent to submit an ERS return' section.

  6. Guidance has been added to explain how to add employment related securities to HMRC Online Services and how to register employment related securities with HMRC. Steps have also been added to show how to authorise an agent to submit employment related security returns on your behalf.

  7. Guidance on how and when you'll get your scheme reference number has been updated.

  8. More information about how to tell HMRC about your ERS schemes has been added.

  9. First published.