FREE CHECKLIST
EMI Scheme Setup Checklist
About an hour before the first grant, in the order HMRC expects. Almost every failed EMI scheme failed procedurally: the valuation never agreed, the notification missed, the working-time declaration never signed. This is the sequence that works.
- Qualify the company and the people before lawyers draft anything
- Agree the valuation on VAL231 and grant inside its 90-day window
- Notify through the ERS annual return by 6 July, then keep the scheme qualifying
GET the free ebook instantly, no signup!
Who this checklist is for
Options promised, nothing granted yet
Offer letters promise options and nothing is granted yet. Run the qualification tests and the VAL231 first, in that order, so what gets signed is actually an EMI option and not paperwork wearing the name.
A template provider says it is all handled
The working-time declaration and the ERS registration are the steps templates most often skip, and they are the two diligence checks first.
Grants exist and a round is coming
Reconcile the register against the ERS returns before the next 6 July, because the buyer’s lawyers will do exactly that, line by line.
FACTS
On the worked grant, the holder keeps £41,540 under EMI against £29,000 unapproved, and the company avoids £7,500 of employer NIC: £12,540 more per employee for a valuation form, a declaration and an annual return. Few hours have a better hourly rate.
£12,540
more per employee on one modest worked grant, EMI against unapproved
6 July
the ERS deadline that decides whether options are EMI at all
FACTS
The fences are checked at grant: gross assets £30 million or less, fewer than 250 full-time equivalents, holders working 25 hours a week or 75 per cent of their time, under 30 per cent material interest, £250,000 per employee and £3 million company-wide. Inside them, BADR runs at 18 per cent from two years after grant, with no five per cent holding test.