With the introduction of a new Health and Social Care (“HSC”) Levy in the United Kingdom on April 6, 2022, we wanted to take a few minutes to revisit a unique aspect of granting equity awards to employees in the UK: the ability to shift the employer’s responsibility for paying National Insurance contributions (“NICs”) on equity award income to the employees who receive the awards.
This may be particularly important for companies that are already requiring employees in the UK to pay employer NICs due on their equity awards because they may need to revise any UK-specific provisions in their award agreements or existing NIC joint election forms to account for the HSC Levy once it becomes a stand-alone tax at the beginning of the 2023/2024 tax year.
For more information on the the process and potential benefits of transferring employers NICs, click here to read our guest blog on the NASPP blog.
