We recently reported that the UK Government had announced that it was in the process of obtaining refreshed approval from the UK’s EMI Scheme and discussed the uncertainty that this left us all in after the original approval expired on 6th April 2018.

The European Commission has now announced on its website that approval under EU state aid rules for EMI schemes has been granted. The Commission found that the extension of the scheme is necessary to help UK SMEs attract and retain talented and skilled employees and that adequate safeguards are in place under UK tax legislation.

Interestingly HMRC has yet to report this on its own website but we understand that they may be waiting for the Commission’s formal decision letter to be published.