Tax and Employee Share Schemes
Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI)
Most companies can offer you Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) if they have both:
- assets of £120 million or less
- fewer than 500 full-time employees
On or before 5 April 2026, companies could offer you EMI if they had both:
- assets of £30 million or less
- fewer than 250 full-time employees
EMI give you share options up to the value of £250,000 in a 3-year period. You must work at least 25 hours a week or 75% of your total working time for the company.
You will not have to pay Income Tax or National Insurance if you buy the shares:
- for at least the market value they had when you were granted the option
- within either 10 years or 15 years of being offered them - your EMI option agreement will tell you how many years you get
If you were given a discount on the market value, you will have to pay Income Tax or National Insurance on the difference between what you pay and what the shares were worth.
You may have to pay Capital Gains Tax if you sell the shares.
Excluded activities
Companies that work in ‘excluded activities’ are not allowed to offer EMI. Excluded activities include:
- banking
- farming
- property development
- provision of legal services
- ship building