Company Share Option Plan (CSOP)

Employees or company directors can be offered tax-free shares by a company through this scheme. If the shares are part of CSOP, you won’t pay Income Tax or National Insurance on the difference between the price you pay when you buy them and the market value of the shares.
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Things to note:

• Share must be sold at market value
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• You’re allowance is £30,000 of shares
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• The shares have to be held for a minimum of three years to be exempt from income tax on the difference between the strike and market price
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• They aren’t totally tax-free, if you make a profit over the capital gains allowance of £12.300, you’ll have to declare and pay tax on the profits using a Self Assessment

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