Self-Assesment (Form 11) - RSU's and preliminary tax?

Hi all,

I am a PAYE individual with other sources of income, so I present annual self-assesments using Form 11. This is the first time I will be using ROS.

This is the first year I am need to declare some RSU's (Restricted Stock Units) - granted by my employer a while ago - which vested during 2007. At vesting time, I paid preliminary income tax at full rate of 41%.

I am not sure how to declare in my self assesment (Form 11).

After phone consultation with the Revenue office, I was advised to declare the RSUs under the "218. Taxable Benefits (not taxed at source under PAYE)" category.

The problem is that the form does not provide for declaring the preliminary tax payed last year. The calculation by the ROS online form will change significantly (to my detriment) when I declare the RSU's - I suspect because there are no provisions to declare the preliminary tax.

In short: I'm concerned that by declaring the RSU's this way, I may get double taxed.

Does anybody has any experience with this? Any words of wisdom?

Regards,
Butch

I have always found that if a form does not obviously make allowance for entering the full facts then writing/attaching an explanatory letter and annotating the form to make reference to additional relevant info helps.

I was in receipt of RSU's from the company I work for a number of years ago. Here is a summary of what I think you need to do. As Clubman says, I would also attached a summary of the information. It can be difficult to get a straight answer from the Revenue on matters like this.

Tax is not due until the shares are actually released and not at vesting time and you need to file a Form 12, e.g.

You are granted 100 RSUs that are 100% vested on the grant date (e.g. 1/3/2006).
The 100 shares are released (i.e. you get hold of your RSU award) 12 months later (1/3/2007), when the [broken link removed]is US$15 per share
You make have to make a Form 12 return for 2007 by 31st October 2008 and include remittance due. Tax due would be (100 x $15) x exchange rate x tax rate.
You may have to make a preliminary tax payment in 2007 under income tax rules.

The Company will not withhold any taxes. You must pay the applicable taxes in accordance with self-assessment rules and file Form 12 for the year in which the shares are released.

This will mean you become registered for self assessed income tax.

You will need to submit a Form 12 again if you sell the RSU's.