Finance (No. 2) Act 1992

37 Employee share schemes: special benefits

(1) Section 80 of the [1988 c. 39.] Finance Act 1988 (unapproved employee share schemes: charge on special benefits) shall be amended as follows.

(2) The following subsections shall be substituted for subsection (2)—

“(1A) If when a benefit is received the company is a dependent subsidiary and its shares are of a single class, the benefit is a special benefit for the purposes of subsection (1) above.

(2) A benefit which does not fall within subsection (1A) above is a special benefit for the purposes of subsection (1) above unless—

(a) when it becomes available it is available to at least ninety per cent. of the persons who then hold shares of the same class as those which, or an interest in which, the person acquired, and

(b) any of the conditions in subsection (3) below is satisfied.”

(3) In subsection (3) (other conditions) in paragraph (a) for “of the class concerned” there shall be substituted “in respect of which the benefit is received”.

(4) In paragraph (c) of subsection (3) for “its shares are of a single class” there shall be substituted “the majority of its shares in respect of which the benefit is received are held otherwise than by or for the benefit of—

(i) directors or employees of the company,

(ii) a company which is an associated company of the company but is not its parent company, or

(iii) directors or employees of a company which is an associated company of the company”.

(5) The following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (3)—

“(3A) For the purposes of subsection (3)(c)(ii) above a company is another company’s parent company if the second company is a subsidiary of the first.”

(6) This section shall apply in relation to benefits received on or after 12th November 1991.