Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003

195 Discharge of notional loan: amount treated as earnings U.K.

(1) The notional loan is to be treated as discharged when the following occurs—

(a) payments or further payments for the employment-related shares equal to the amount initially outstanding have been made,

(b) if the employment-related shares were not fully paid up at the time of the acquisition, any outstanding or contingent obligation to pay for them ceases to bind the employee or any person connected with the employee,

(c) the employment-related shares are disposed of so that neither the employee nor any person connected with the employee any longer has a beneficial interest in them, or

(d) the employee dies.

(2) If—

(a) a notional loan is discharged as a result of an event specified in subsection (1)(b) or (c), and

(b) at the time of that event the employee holds the employment by reason of which the right or opportunity to make the acquisition was available,

the amount of the notional loan outstanding immediately before the occurrence of the event is to be treated as earnings from the employment for the tax year in which the event occurs.

(3) But if the employment has terminated or become an excluded employment before that event and there was a time when—

(a) the whole or part of the notional loan was outstanding,

(b) the employee held the employment, and

(c) it was not an excluded employment,

subsection (2) applies as if the employment had not terminated or become an excluded employment.