Section 476: Charge on exercise, assignment or release of option by employee
1970.In ICTA, the rules that apply in situations where another person (rather than the employee) realises the gain are in the middle of section 135 surrounded by other material dealing with the more common case in which the gain is realised by the employee personally. In this Act the rules have been separated, this section being concerned with gains realised by the employee and section 477 with gains realised by other persons.
1971.Subsection (2) provides that an amount is to count as employment income of the employee. It derives from section 135(1) of ICTA. Such an amount is specific employment income (see section 7(4) of this Act) which replaces the free-standing Schedule E charge. It does not depend on the residence status of the employee at the time of exercise. The charge applies whether the option was originally granted to the employee or to another person and then assigned to the employee; see section 471(3) of this Act. The amount that is to count as employment income (the taxable amount) is determined under section 478.
1972.Subsection (3) is new and simply specifies the year for which the taxable amount counts as employment income. It is Inland Revenue practice to apply section 135 of ICTA to charge the gain in the year of exercise etc. See Note 3 in Annex 2.
1973.Subsection (4) refers to the exceptions that apply if the options were granted under an approved scheme or under the EMI code.
