Obligations to provide information
Contents
Employees' records and Self Assessment Returns
- From April 1996, all taxpayers are obliged by law to keep records of their income and capital gains so they can complete a Self Assessment Return. If an employee holds or receives shares or share options because of his or her job, the employee will need to keep information about when the shares or options were received, what they were worth, and how much was paid for them.
- Employees are required to give HMRC full details of all taxable income in their Self Assessment Return, including liabilities arising from shares or share options. Even though employers report these details, employees have to fulfil this obligation too.
- An employee who does not receive a Self Assessment Return is nevertheless required to inform HMRC of any chargeability to income tax - including that arising from shares or share options unless all tax liabilities have been, or will be, correctly deducted from his or her wages through the PAYE system. If the employee has income from which tax has not been correctly deducted, he or she must inform the Tax Office within six months of the end of the tax year in which the income arose.
- If the tax owed is less than £1,000, the employee can contact their tax office with details of the extra income and ask them to adjust his or her PAYE code. There is normally no need for the employee to fill in a tax return if the tax owed is less than £1,000.
- If the tax owed is more than £1,000, the employee will normally have to complete a Self Assessment Return. The employee should ask HMRC to include the share schemes pages with the return.
Help Sheets
The following Self Assessment help sheets may be of use:
