Budget 2016: The government is imposing an individual lifetime limit of £100,000 on gains eligible for capital gains tax exemption through employee shareholder status.
This will apply to employee shareholder status arrangements entered into from 17 March 2016. It will not apply to existing arrangements.
The limit was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his Budget 2016 speech today (16 March). It is one of a raft of measures that aim to ensure that tax benefits for individuals are proportionate and fair.
Osborne said: “In every Budget I’ve given, action against tax avoidance and evasion has contributed to the repair of our public finances.”
Phil Hall, former director of and adviser to IFS Proshare, said: "The reality is that this dreadful vehicle has been abused by some and this will make it fairer. That said, it won’t affect many people because the number of organisations and employees using the employee shareholder status remains pitifully small, as predicted when it was first proposed by government.”
