We've always seen our role as helping companies improve performance through involving their employees as owners rather than as providers of tax-driven pay arrangements, and we still do. 
 
But with the approaching 50% top income tax rate, and possibility of further payroll tax increases, we are  increasingly being asked for guidance on the tax advantages of employee share schemes.
 
Set out below are ten key approaches.  Each enjoys statutory tax treatment and, for an employee paying 50% income tax, will reduce the total tax rate on each £1 of reward from 63.8p to 18p and in some cases to nil.
 
EMI options
Allow selected employees to share in future growth in company value with no financial commitment.  Tax (capital gains tax - CGT) is only due when shares are sold.  0% on the first £10,100 gains, 18% on any additional gain.  Only for smaller companies and some businesses are excluded.
 
Approved options
Similar to EMI.  Not as flexible but most independent companies will qualify, regardless of size or business.
 
Share Incentive Plan (SIP)
Allows employees to be given shares worth £3,000 each year, tax free.  Employees may also buy up to £1,500 worth of shares each year out of pre-tax pay (and receive further free matching shares if they do).  No CGT on growth in value of these shares.  Shares must be offered to all employees and must normally be retained for five years.
 
SIP to SIPP
Employees can be given further full income tax relief if, when their shares are released from a SIP, they are then placed in a Self-Invested Personal Pension Plan (SIPP).
 
For a 50% taxpayer receiving £3,000 as cash, their net pay (after deducting £1530 income tax and NI) will be £1,470.  If instead they receive free shares worth £3,000 through a SIP, no tax is deducted.  If they then place the same value shares in a SIPP when they come out of the SIP, their taxable income for that year is reduced by£3,000. 
 
Their total tax saving = £3,060 (£1530 x 2)
 
Save As You Earn (SAYE) Share Options
Allows the same tax benefits as EMI and approved options but must be offered toall employees.   Participating employees must agree to save a fixed monthly amount for a period of three to five years, at the end of which they may either withdraw their savings or use them to exercise their options.
 
If you decide none of these is right for your company, there are other approaches.  They don't have their own dedicated tax status but use well-established UK tax legislation.  In each, growth in value is subject to CGT at the maximum current rate of 18%.  In some cases the lower entrepreneurs' rate of 10% may apply:
 
Simple purchase of shares
It will often be possible to obtain the Revenue's approval to a purchase price discounted by 75% or more, helping make a simple share purchase feasible.
 
Purchase shares now, pay for them later
If an employee can't pay now, payment can be deferred, with no or modest tax cost.
 
Free shares
These are subject to income tax and NI when received.  But if, as with purchased shares, their value when received is discounted, this significantly reduces any tax liability.
 
Hurdle shares
This involves creating a special type of share in your company, which only acquires a capital value once the company's value exceeds a given threshold.  By setting that threshold at a level which is higher than the company's current value, these shares have low or no initial value, so an employee can acquire them for low or no cost without tax charge.
 
Growth shares
A more sophisticated arrangement under which an employee acquires a financial interest in the future growth in value of a specified number of shares.  The employee's interest has a low initial value (because it isn't known whether the value of the underlying shares will rise or fall), enabling an employee to acquire them for low or no cost without tax charge.