HMRC have released Employment-Related Securities (ERS) Bulletin 68, which focuses on changes to ERS net settlement reporting requirements, Save As You Earn (SAYE) guidance and Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI).
Net settlement and annual reporting requirements
As set out in Employment-Related Securities (ERS) bulletin 63: January 2026, HMRC have changed how ERS net settlement must be reported.
When completing the Non-Tax Advantaged Share Schemes (Other) end of year return, employers will:
- No longer need to complete two lines of information to report net settlement on the ERS end of year return.
- Only complete one row of information per individual employee.
- Continue to retain employer records showing they have accounted for Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) correctly, including how these were recovered from employees.
- These records should be retained for the current tax year plus six years and produced to HMRC if they request them as part of a routine compliance check.
This reporting approach applies to all tax years.
There have been no changes to the format or structure of the end-of-year return template.
To support this change, HMRC have updated their:
- Non-tax advantaged share schemes: guidance notes.
- ERS manual.
Save As You Earn (SAYE) guidance updates
A SAYE scheme must comply with the requirements of Schedule 3 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA), including the requirement for a scheme to be linked to a certified SAYE savings arrangement.
- A savings arrangement must be operated in line with the relevant SAYE prospectus, which is a legally binding document certified by the Commissioners for HMRC.
The current SAYE prospectus came into effect on 18 August 2023.
- HMRC have expanded the employee Tax Advantaged Share Scheme user manual, which outlines the terms of the SAYE prospectus, to include a reference to paragraph 21 of the prospectus.
- Paragraph 21 prohibits an employee from transferring the savings contract or any of its benefits to a third party.
- This includes entering into a loan arrangement in which any part of the value of the shares or any profit made is given up or transferred to a third party.
Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) removal of the notification: draft legislation and technical consultation
At Budget 2025, the government announced it will remove the requirement for a company to submit a notification of a grant of EMI options to HMRC from 6 April 2027.
- Currently, this notification is required in addition to the EMI end of year return.
- Instead, from 6 April 2027, for the options to qualify for the EMI tax relief, a company will be required to report a grant of options through the EMI end of year return.
The EMI end of year return will be updated to require details of a grant of options, beginning with the return for the 2027-28 tax year, which will be submitted from 6 April 2028.
- Draft legislation about this was published on 13 July 2026.
- You can send comments about the draft legislation to HMRC until 7 September 2026.
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