HMRC have issued a reminder that from the 2014–15 tax year onwards all annual returns for employment related securities must be submitted online and include an attachment containing the supporting information. Template attachments for providing the supporting information have now been published by HMRC.

The attachment can be used throughout the year to gather the supporting information and then submitted after the end of the tax year. To avoid penalties and keep any tax advantages (for tax advantaged schemes) returns must be submitted online by 6 July following the end of the tax year.

The relevant scheme or arrangement must have been registered and for tax advantaged schemes (CSOP, SAYE and SIP), self-certified on the Employment Related Securities (ERS) Online Service first. Each scheme registered on the ERS service is allocated a unique scheme reference number. An annual return (including nil returns) must be submitted online against each unique reference number.

Guidance on the annual return process will be provided later in the year. Details of what, how and when to register are also available.