Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

25 The following section shall be inserted after section 144—

“Profit sharing and share option schemes

144A Approved profit sharing and share option schemes

(1) Notwithstanding anything in a profit sharing scheme approved under Schedule 9 of the Taxes Act 1988 or in paragraph 2(2) of that Schedule or in the trust instrument relating to that scheme, for the purposes of capital gains tax a person who is a participant in relation to that scheme shall be treated as absolutely entitled to his shares as against the trustees of the scheme.

(2) For the purposes of capital gains tax—

(a) no deduction shall be made from the consideration for the disposal of any shares by reason only that an amount determined under section 186 or 187 of or Schedule 9 or 10 to the Taxes Act 1988 is chargeable to income tax under section 186(3) or (4) of that Act;

(b) any charge to income tax by virtue of section 186(3) of that Act shall be disregarded in determining whether a distribution is a capital distribution within the meaning of section 72(5)(b) above;

(c) nothing in any provision of section 186 or 187 of or Schedule 9 or 10 to that Act with respect to—

(i) the order in which any of a participant’s shares are to be treated as disposed of for the purposes of those provisions as they have effect in relation to profit sharing schemes, or

(ii) the shares in relation to which an event is to be treated as occurring for any such purpose,

shall affect the rules applicable to the computation of a gain accruing on a part disposal of a holding of shares or other securities which were acquired at different times; and

(d) a gain accruing on an appropriation of shares to which section 186(11) applies shall not be a chargeable gain.

(3) In subsection (2) above “participant” and “the trust instrument” have the meanings given by section 187 of the Taxes Act 1988.

(4) Where a right to acquire shares in a body corporate is released in consideration of the grant of a right to acquire shares in another body corporate in accordance with a provision included in a scheme pursuant to paragraph 15 of Schedule 9 to the Taxes Act 1988, the transaction shall not be treated for the purposes of this Act as involving any disposal of the first-mentioned right but for those purposes the other right shall be treated as the same asset acquired as the first-mentioned right was acquired.

This subsection does not apply in relation to a savings-related share option scheme, within the meaning of section 187 of that Act, unless the first-mentioned right was acquired as mentioned in section 185(1) of that Act.”