Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 Schedule 4 paragraph 17

Requirements as to listing

Schedule 4 paragraph 17 sets out the listing and company status requirements that shares must satisfy in order to be eligible shares under a CSOP (Company Share Option Plan).

• Eligible shares must be of a class listed on a recognised stock exchange, or be shares in an independent company not controlled by another company, or be shares in a company subject to an employee-ownership trust.
• Listed shares satisfy the requirement automatically by virtue of being traded on a recognised stock exchange.
• For unlisted shares, the issuing company must either be independent (not under the control of another company) or be subject to an employee-ownership trust as defined in Schedule 2 paragraph 27(4) to (6).
• These requirements ensure that eligible shares are either publicly traded or issued by genuinely independent or employee-owned companies.