Section 529 | Scope of tax advantages: option must be exercised by the specified anniversary

(1)Sections 530 to 540 apply in connection with the exercise of a qualifying option.

(2)But those sections only apply in cases where the option is exercised on or before the specified anniversary of—^F1

(a)the date of the grant of the option, or

(b)if it is a replacement option, the date of the grant of the original option.

(2A)In this section, “specified anniversary” means—^F2

(a)in cases where the employer company is a specified Northern Ireland company, the tenth anniversary, and^F2

(b)otherwise, the fifteenth anniversary.^F2

(3)In the EMI code “the original option” means—

(a)where there has been one replacement option, the option that that option replaced, or

(b)where there have been two or more replacement options, the option that the first of them replaced.