EMI Share Option Schemes
EMI is HMRC's most generous share option scheme for SMEs, handled end to end. One fixed fee, five documents, barrister-drafted. Most schemes delivered in three to four weeks.
Options replace some of the cash, letting you compete with businesses that can match the salary you cannot yet offer. The upside is real. The cost today is nil.
Vesting schedules and good leaver provisions tie the people who matter to the business through the years when it actually gets built. Aligned incentives, properly documented.
When the exit comes, the team shares in it. With EMI, that share is taxed at capital gains rates, not income tax, which means more ends up in people's pockets, not HMRC's.
What you get
Everything you need to adopt the scheme and grant options. Drafted to current HMRC requirements and tailored to your business. Click any document to see what is covered.
What is not included: HMRC valuation (VAL231), EMI post-grant notification, ongoing scheme administration, and heavily bespoke performance targets. We can help with all of these, just not within the fixed-fee package.
Pricing
First-time scheme, typical SME structure
+ VAT, fixed fee
Covers the full five-document package. Applies to most first-time schemes for a straightforward SME. We confirm which tier applies before you commit.
Most schemesBespoke or layered requirements
+ VAT, quoted case by case
Multi-class share structures, unusual performance targets, group structures. We quote up front and stick to it. Same five-document package, same quality.
Same scheme, new option holder
+ VAT per employee
An Option Agreement on the same scheme terms, ready to issue to a new employee. No need to revisit the Scheme Rules.
How it works
Designed so you do as little as possible. The bulk of the work sits with us. Each step shows who handles it.
A short call or email. We find out about your business and work out whether your scheme is standard or complicated. No commitment required.
You complete a structured questionnaire built to capture everything the drafting decisions depend on. Takes around 30 to 45 minutes.
We send a short report covering the choices to make on vesting, leavers, performance targets and the rest. You make the calls, we advise on the options. Around this stage your accountant agrees the share valuation with HMRC, the one part that sits outside our fixed fee.
Standard or complicated, confirmed in writing. You know the number before anything starts. No surprises later.
One-click payment. We start work.
The scheme documents are drafted by a specialist barrister. Silva project manages, reviews and quality controls. You are kept updated throughout.
Final pack delivered to you, ready for board adoption. Five documents, HMRC letter ready to submit. You are done.
Common questions
An EMI scheme - Enterprise Management Incentives - is HMRC's most generous tax-advantaged share option scheme, designed for smaller, growing companies. It lets you grant employees options over shares at a price fixed today, so they share in the growth they help create. Provided the conditions are met, the gain is taxed at capital gains rates rather than as employment income, which is the whole commercial point.
From 6 April 2026 the limits rose substantially. A qualifying company can have gross assets of up to £120m (previously £30m), fewer than 500 employees (previously 250), and up to £6m of unexercised EMI options in total (previously £3m). Each employee can hold options over shares worth up to £250,000 at grant in any three-year period, and options can now be exercised within fifteen years rather than ten.
If you were told you were too big for EMI before April 2026, it is worth checking again - a great many companies that failed the old test pass the new one comfortably.
Most growing SMEs do, but three things have to line up: your size (under 500 employees and £120m gross assets), your independence, and your trade. Excluded activities include banking and financial services, farming, property development, ship building and the provision of legal services, among others - and they exclude you however small and deserving the company is.
Companies registered in Northern Ireland trading in goods or electricity are treated differently and keep the previous £30m and £3m limits.
Silva sets up a standard EMI scheme for a fixed fee of £3,850 + VAT, covering the full five-document package. More complicated schemes - multi-class share structures, unusual performance targets, group structures - are quoted case by case, up front. Additional option holders on an existing scheme are £350 + VAT each.
Most schemes are delivered in three to four weeks from the point we have your completed questionnaire. The main variable outside that is the share valuation, which your accountant agrees with HMRC and which runs alongside our drafting rather than after it.
The HMRC share valuation (VAL231), the EMI post-grant notification, ongoing scheme administration, and heavily bespoke performance targets sit outside the fixed-fee package. We can help with all of them - we just quote them separately rather than pretending they are part of the standard build.
EMI allows up to £250,000 of options per employee and considerably more flexibility, but restricts eligibility by trade, employee numbers and gross assets. CSOP has no trade restrictions and no equivalent size ceiling, but caps each employee at £60,000. In practice most companies use EMI where they qualify, and CSOP is the fallback when they cannot.
Request a quote
Tell us a little about your company and what you need. We will confirm which tier applies and come back with a fixed-fee quote, no obligation.
Get started
We can answer your questions, discuss what you would like to do, and help you understand if it is a standard or more complex scheme.
Or email hello@silvalex.co.uk directly.