Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS), the US-based international corporate governance provider, has released its draft 2016 benchmark policy changes for consultation. There are only three countries where compensation-related changes are proposed: France: Recent legislative changes in France have reduced to two years the previous requirement for a four-year combined vesting and holding period for performance … Continue Reading
You may remember that HMRC said they would issue further guidance on the VAT treatment of DB pension fund administration costs over the summer. Well, by my reckoning we are well and truly into autumn but HMRC have today published a new Brief. Has it resolved matters? In short (and, sadly) No. First, we have official … Continue Reading
The IRS recently published an updated Equity (Stock) – Based Compensation Audit Techniques Guide (the “ATG”). The August 2015 ATG has been substantially expanded compared to the prior Stock Based Compensation Audit Techniques Guide (the “prior ATG”). The ATG generally remains organized in the same fashion as the prior ATG. It begins by defining Equity-Based … Continue Reading
It came as no great surprise last week when the Pensions Minister, Baroness Ros Altmann, announced that: “the time is not right to implement Defined Ambition, Collective Benefits and Automatic Transfers“. It is a case of too much too soon, but will there ever be a right time? The Government’s written statement clarifies its intention … Continue Reading
The UK’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has rebranded itself as the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA). Why the change? The PLSA says it better reflects changes to the way retirement provision is made, with people working longer and funding retirement in new ways, as well as having new rights to access their … Continue Reading
Last year we covered the saga of Sports Direct’s 2015 Share Scheme through the vote to approve the scheme and the subsequent votes at the 2014 AGM. This story has refused to go away and resurfaced this week at the company’s 2015 AGM. There has been much press comment on the outcomes and reasons why … Continue Reading
The Investment Association (IA) has announced that it has set up a working group, the Executive Remuneration Working Group, to address the perceived complexity of executive pay and the lack of incentives for directors of UK companies to act in the best interests of shareholders over the long term (see our previous post). The remit … Continue Reading
On August 5, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a final rule that requires a public company to disclose the ratio of the compensation of its CEO to the median compensation of its employees. Companies will be required to provide disclosure of their pay ratios for their first fiscal year beginning on or … Continue Reading
Friday last week saw the release of an almost comical consultation document setting out HMRC’s proposals for the simplification of the tax and NIC treatment of termination payments. As many people will know, the tax treatment of termination payments depends on the reason for the payment. The most often confused aspect is whether a payment … Continue Reading
By Sarah Gosling Whilst many IFAs and scheme administrators may be glad that pension input periods (“PIPs”) are being aligned with the tax year – the proposed transitional process to get them there may cause some serious headaches and prompt some rule amendments. It was announced in the Summer Budget that PIPs are to be … Continue Reading
On 7 July we reported that HMRC’s online filing system for employment related shares was down – worrying, given the 6 July filing deadline. Things finally seem to be returning to normal but some issues are still being reported as it appears HMRC are limiting the number of concurrent users of the system so that error … Continue Reading
The recent clawback laws being discussed and introduced in the UK and the US differ quite markedly and represent two almost entirely different approaches to recovering “erroneously” awarded incentive-based compensation. So which flavour do you prefer? One shouldn’t forget, of course, that the PRA’s provisions regarding clawback are only one half of a two pronged … Continue Reading
As widely trailed, the UK government has confirmed in the Summer Budget on 8 July that pensions tax relief for those earning more than £150,000 will be severely restricted from April 2016 – relief will be tapered to a minimum of £10,000 a year. In addition, the government announced that it is launching a consultation … Continue Reading
Hot off the press, an announcement from HMRC Share Schemes: “ERS Online service We are aware of some technical issues that are being investigated as a matter of urgency, and apologise for any inconvenience caused to customers. As customers will be unable to file their annual return by the 6 July 2015 deadline we will … Continue Reading
The 6 July deadline for companies to register their share incentive plans with HMRC online (and self-certify their tax advantaged plans) is fast approaching. By this date companies must also make an end-of-year return for each plan, including any non-tax-advantaged (“unapproved”) arrangements where there have been “reportable events” – see our previous blog posts on … Continue Reading
UK pension fund trustees with liability driven investment strategies may be alarmed to learn that a new banking directive will give supervisory authorities powers to suspend their contractual rights against counterparty banks. We examine in an alert the issues and actions that trustees need to take now to manage this new regulatory development.… Continue Reading
Following on from our earlier blog post predicting that companies might have issues when using the new online service for registering employee share plans with HMRC, it appears that problems are indeed emerging. Despite the looming deadline of 6 July, we hear anecdotal reports that so far only about 25% of plans have been registered. In … Continue Reading
Whilst some smaller UK employers and new companies are yet to reach their pensions automatic enrolment staging date, the largest companies are in the process of planning for the first cycle of automatic re-enrolment. Companies can choose to re-enrol three months before the third anniversary of their staging date. For those that went first in … Continue Reading
The Fiscal Court of Cologne has ruled that, for German tax purposes, Restricted Stock Units (“RSU’s”) should be regarded as compensation which is intended to be an incentive for the future work performance of the employee. This compensation may therefore be subject to tax in Germany even if the employee has ceased to be resident … Continue Reading
The High Pay Centre, well known in the UK for its opposition to the trend for higher executive pay, published its latest report on Wednesday. The catchy title “No Routine Riches” reflects the inevitable conclusions that the current approach to executive pay is misconceived. The main headline-catching recommendation is that companies should drop their LTIPs … Continue Reading
Over 70 FTSE100 companies have now released their DRRs and we are well into the 2015 AGM season. So far, most FTSE100 companies are coming through the AGM season unscathed. In respect of the implementation report (this is the aspect of the directors’ remuneration report that describes how the remuneration committee implemented the company’s approved … Continue Reading
The Financial Reporting Council has published a consultation on amendments to accounting standard FRS102, which deals with share-based payments (such as options) with a cash alternative. The amendments are aimed at aligning FRS102, which tends to be used by smaller companies, with the international accounting standards used by listed companies. The closing date for responses … Continue Reading
In our blog posts last week we reported on the Labour and Liberal Democrat manifesto pledges affecting executive remuneration. The Scottish National Party has now published its manifesto, which picks up similar themes. The SNP has a number of policies relating to strengthening the position of trade unions in the workplace, with part of the … Continue Reading
You may need to make urgent changes to your trustee board if you are caught by little-publicised provisions in the Occupational Pension Schemes (Charges and Governance) Regulations 2015. Most commentators have focussed on the charges provisions in those Regulations, but a surprising number of UK pension plans will be caught by onerous additional requirements applicable … Continue Reading
