If your company has ever registered a share scheme with HMRC — EMI options, unapproved options, growth shares — an annual return was due by 6 July. Even for a year when nothing happened. Miss it and the penalties start at £100 and climb on a fixed timetable. Here's where you stand, in under a minute.
Every share scheme registered with HMRC — EMI options, unapproved options, growth shares — needs an ERS annual return by 6 July after each tax year ends. The obligation starts the moment the scheme is registered.
No grants, no exercises, nothing happened? A nil return is still legally required, every year, until the scheme is formally closed. Most penalties we see are on dormant schemes nobody remembered.
Miss the deadline and £100 is charged automatically. Still outstanding 3 months on: £300 more. At 6 months: another £300. After 9 months HMRC can add £10 a day — and a careless error in the return itself can cost up to £5,000.
Every scheme registered on HMRC's ERS service needs a return each year — even if nothing happened, and even if the scheme is dormant.
An employment related securities (ERS) return tells HMRC about shares or share options involving your employees or directors — EMI options, unapproved options, growth shares, or shares acquired by reason of employment. If your company has ever registered a scheme on HMRC's ERS online service, a return is due by 6 July after every tax year, whether or not anything happened. One-off events count too: giving shares to a new director or employee is usually reportable even if you never set up a formal scheme.
Yes. Once a scheme is registered, HMRC requires a return every year until the scheme is formally closed, and a year with no activity must be reported as a nil return. Filing nothing at all triggers the same automatic penalties as missing a return with activity in it. If the scheme is genuinely finished, the better fix is to close the registration so the obligation ends.
£100 automatically the day after the 6 July deadline. A further £300 if the return is still outstanding 3 months later, and another £300 at 6 months. Beyond 9 months, HMRC can charge £10 a day. Separately, a return containing a material inaccuracy that is careless or deliberate can attract a penalty of up to £5,000. Penalties apply per scheme, per year.
File the outstanding return as quickly as possible — the escalating penalties are driven by how long the return stays outstanding, so every week matters more than anything else. Once it's in, you can appeal the penalties if you have a reasonable excuse. Being unaware of the requirement generally isn't accepted as one, but serious illness, bereavement, or an HMRC system failure can be.
Returns are filed by uploading HMRC's own spreadsheet templates through the ERS section of your Government Gateway account. There's a separate template for each scheme type, the formatting rules are strict, and a file that doesn't match your scheme registration is rejected outright — often after the deadline has passed. There's no way for software to file it for you behind the scenes, which is why it stays painful.
Yes — EMI option grants must also be notified to HMRC. For options granted from 6 April 2024 onwards the notification deadline is aligned with the annual return: 6 July following the end of the tax year of grant. Miss it and the options can lose their EMI tax advantages, which is usually far more expensive than any filing penalty.
Yes. As your agent we can file outstanding returns, handle the annual nil returns, deal with reportable events like new grants or exercises, and close registrations you no longer need — all for a fixed fee agreed up front. Most clients bundle it into their monthly plan and never think about 6 July again.
Book a free, no-pressure call — if a return is outstanding we'll tell you exactly what it takes to put right, and what it costs, before you commit to anything.
Book a free call →We checked these rather than relying on memory. Every figure and deadline above comes from HMRC directly — go and read them yourself if you'd like to.
Last reviewed 14-07-2026. Tax rules change — if you're reading this long after that date, check the source.
