At Budget 2014 the Government announced it would seek views on the Office of Tax Simplification’s (OTS) recommendation to introduce a new employee shareholding vehicle to make it easier for companies wishing to manage their employee share arrangements and create a market for employees’ shares.

The Government has now published a discussion paper exploring the case for change made by the OTS and the potential issues that the introduction of an employee shareholding vehicle raises. The deadline for responses to the paper is 10 October 2014.

This paper aims to develop the understanding of the scope to introduce a simpler vehicle by seeking views on:

• the level of demand for such a vehicle should it be introduced
• the relative need and demand for the exemptions recommended by the OTS
• the effectiveness of the safeguards for the Exchequer recommended by the OTS and whether further safeguards might be necessary to protect against tax avoidance