Tax

Tom Maguire: Why it’s important to KEEP going on employee share options

Amendments to the Key Employee Engagement Programme qualification conditions and extension of the scheme to 2025 are positive moves, but there’s still room for improvement

The Finance Bill revises the ‘sunset clause’ for KEEP from the end of 2023 to the end of 2025. Picture: Getty

Regular readers of this column will know that I have been going on about the Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP) for some time now. This is because of its importance to entrepreneurial companies which may not be able to attract appropriate talent given their lack of cash resources when compared with more established competitors. KEEP allows them to compete by providing share options with favourable tax treatment in the employee’s hands.

As part of his ...