Clause 1 - Notices relating to share optionsacquired before 19th May 2000
Social Security Contributions
10:30 am
Mr John Burnett (Torridge and West Devon, Liberal Democrat)
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you as Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Benton. I want to speak to the amendments referring to time limits, and draw the Minister's attention to the problem of over-bureaucratisation for small companies. Although the measure is welcome, it is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
I declare an interest, as I am a lawyer, specialising in taxation matters. However, I do not practise now, and have not done so since a year or so after being elected to Parliament. Share options are a complex matter, and small and medium-sized companies will need to take advice from lawyers and accountants. Sometimes
businesses are not aware of changes, although the Inland Revenue will say that its internet site has all the information. Sixty days is not long enough for small and medium-sized companies to decide which way to opt, as negotiations and discussions will have to take place. We support amendment No. 6.
I shall come to the bureaucracy involved later and I shall ask why an employer cannot elect either to freeze an unexercised option on 7 November 2000, or wait for the exercise, and use entirely normal procedures? I am merely flagging the points that we shall raise later in the debate.