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Jeremy Edwards

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Jeremy Edwards is a partner and the head of the Employee Benefits Group in Baker McKenzie’s London office. He advises on all aspects of employee share plans and employee taxation. Jeremy has over 20 years’ experience as a share plan lawyer and two years’ experience as a corporate lawyer. He is currently serving on the advisory panel of ProShare and is a regular speaker at share plan conferences held in the United Kingdom.

Following the end of the UK tax year on 5 April 2024, annual Employment-Related Securities (ERS) returns may now be filed online with HMRC. All companies with open share plan registrations with HMRC are required to submit an annual return, even if it is a nil return (i.e., even if there has been no share plan activity during the 2023 to 2024 tax year). The deadline for submission for the 2023 to 2024 tax year is 6 July 2024.

On 26 July 2022, the UK Government published its responses to the 2018 consultation on employment status. The consultation had invited stakeholders to make online submissions on how to address various issues with the UK’s current framework for the employment and tax statuses of individuals. At present, for tax purposes, there are two tax statuses: (i) self-employed and (ii) employed; while for employment law purposes there are effectively three statuses: (i) worker; (ii) employee and (iii) self-employed.

In two recent cases, the Court of Appeal has provided some guidance on the test to determine if someone is an employee for tax purposes. In doing so, it considered and, in some key respects, distinguished the approach taken when determining whether someone is an employee or worker for the purposes of employment rights. The result may well be a different answer when determining status for tax purposes from the answer for the purposes of employment rights.

This series of ESG-focused thought leadership webinars will share insights and practical guidance for businesses considering what ESG means for them. Set out are details of our forthcoming demystifying ESG webinar series for 2022 including: regulations, executive pay, climate change, strategic initiatives and corporate responsibility.

Reclassification of individuals or activities for one purpose can have knock on consequences to business models and can lead to issues and liabilities in areas such as employment, wage tax, pensions, tax and regulatory. A decision or change in one area of law may be a time to re-assess the business model and consider whether that determination might have wider commercial implications.

The Upper Tribunal upheld a First Tier Tribunal decision that a project manager was within IR35 as he would have been an employee if he had been engaged directly. The case (Northern Light Solutions Limited v Revenue and Customs [2021] UKUT 134 (TCC)) relates to the pre-6 April 2021 position according to which it was for the contractor to determine whether he was inside or outside IR35.

The UK 2021 Budget was published yesterday, targeted at driving economic recovery as the UK begins to edge out of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopen its economy.  Key to the Chancellor’s stated agenda is seeking to promote business investment and support entrepreneurial growth, whilst creating and protecting jobs and livelihoods – which the Chancellor maintains is at the forefront of his Budget mandate. We have summarized the key employment tax highlights of the 2021 Budget.

In brief On 21 January 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) published updated guidance on tax treaties and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, originally issued by the Secretariat in April 2020. The OECD’s guidance reflects the Secretariat’s views on the interpretations of the tax treaties and…

The UK 2021 Budget was published yesterday, targeted at driving economic recovery as the UK begins to edge out of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopen its economy.  Key to the Chancellor’s stated agenda is seeking to promote business investment and support entrepreneurial growth, whilst creating and protecting jobs and livelihoods – which the Chancellor maintains is at the forefront of his Budget mandate. We have summarized the key employment tax highlights of the 2021 Budget.