Jul 28 2006
Employee share schemes could help British workers save some £207 million from tax breaks, new figures show.
A report by independent advice organisation IFA Promotion reveals that while 600,000 Britons are in a work-based share option scheme, most workers are not taking full advantage of the government's share incentive plan.
Nearly 6,500 firms in the UK currently run a tax-advantaged employee scheme and 467 use the government's share incentive plan allowing employees access to substantial tax savings.
Employees receive shares that are held for them in trust and they can also add to the shares with some employers providing additional shares for free.
If workers enrolled in the company share schemes used just half of their allowance under the government plan, they could save over £300 each.
"We all wish we paid a little less to the taxman and had a little more money in our wallets, yet a substantial amount of tax is being wasted by failing to take advantage of employee share schemes," said IFA Promotion chief executive, David Elms.
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