E definitions
| earned income | Income deriving from an employment with an employer, office you hold (such as a directorship) or income from a trade that you perform either alone or in partnership. |
| EEA | Acronym for the European Economic Area. |
| EIS | Acronym for Enterprise Investment Scheme. The Enterprise Investment Scheme is an Inland Revenue approved scheme that encourages individuals to subscribe for shares in unquoted trading companies. Tax relief is due on the investment. There are many detailed rules applying to this scheme. |
| EIS deferral relief | If you subscribe for shares in an unquoted trading company, you can claim to defer all or part of a gain that you have made on the disposal of other assets. This is called enterprise investment scheme (EIS) deferral relief. There are strict conditions which must be satisfied before you can claim the relief. |
| elections | You can make an election if you want your income or gains to be taxed in an alternative way. There are strict time limits for elections, and you must normally satisfy specific conditions before you can use the revised treatment. Elections that you can make include the allocation of the married couple's allowance between spouses (this is restricted from 2000/2001 to couples where one spouse was over 65 on or before 5 April 2000), an election to treat a second house as your main residence even though you live in the first house, and an election (a rebasing election) to treat the assets you owned on 31 March 1982 as if you had bought them on that date. |
| emoluments | The amount of income you receive from your employment. This income includes your salary commissions and benefits such as the provision of a company car, use of a mobile phone and payments of expenses, such as travelling and subsistence costs. |
| employed | If you work for someone else, then you are employed. |
| employee | A person who is employed by an employer under a contract of service whether written or implied. |
| employee contributions | If you are employed and make payments into a pension scheme, these payments are called employee contributions. This applies to contributions to your employer's pension scheme, or to your own retirement annuity contract or personal pension plan. |
| employee loans | Loans made by a company to an employee. These loans might be interest free or at a low interest rate. |
| employer | Someone who employs you to do a job under a contract of service. |
| employer's pension | A pension you receive from a previous employer |
| employer's retirement benefits scheme | Pension scheme set up by a company for employees. Apart from a normal pension, it might also include the right to continue using a company asset after retirement such as a company car. |
| employment income | The earnings you receive from your office (directorships and so on) or employment. It includes salary and commission as well as benefits provided by your employer (company car and so on). |
| enquiries | Queries which the Inland Revenue may raise and investigations they may make into matters connected with your Tax Return. |
| enterprise allowance | A Government benefit paid to assist unemployed people to start their own business. Payments made by the government to recipients are included in their taxable income. Previously called Business Start-up Allowance. |
| enterprise investment scheme | The Enterprise Investment Scheme is an Inland Revenue approved scheme that encourages individuals to subscribe for shares in unquoted trading companies. Tax relief is due on the investment. There are many detailed rules applying to this scheme. |
| enterprise zone trust | An Inland Revenue approved trust which builds and lets commercial property in certain designated areas (Enterprise Zones). You receive tax relief on your share of the building costs and then you receive a share of rents. This is a very long-term investment. |
| entertainment | Hospitality provided, such as dinners, parties, business lunches etc. |
| equalisation | This is an adjustment which may be made if you have recently bought units in a unit trust. The first distribution you receive may be split into two parts, a dividend distribution of the income earned by your units since the date of your purchase, and an equalisation payment equal the income earned by the units before them. The equalisation payment is not part of your taxable income, but it should be deducted from the base cost of the units for capital gains tax purposes. You may also receive an equalisation payment if you have acquired units in an open ended investment company (ĢIC). |
| estate | Property left by a person who has died. The executors will collect all the assets of the estate and distribute them to the beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the dead person's will, or intestacy rules if there was no will left. |
| exact basis - motoring costs | The exact basis of calculating your motoring costs involves adding up the total motoring expenses incurred over the tax year (such as fuel, servicing repairs and so on) and apportioning the costs between business and private use on the basis of mileage. |
| ex-dividend | If you sell a share just after the date you become entitled to a dividend, but before the date the dividend is paid out, the share is sold ex-dividend. You are still entitled to receive the dividend. |
| exempt | Income that is not taxable. For example, prizes from the National Lottery or winnings from gambling. |
| exempt assets | Assets that are specified in the tax legislation as being free from capital gains tax such as private motor cars. |
| exercise | To take up an option to buy something - usually a share. |
| ex-gratia | An ex-gratia payment is one made freely where there is no obligation to make any payment. Often made by employers to leaving employees. |
| expense payments received | Payments received by employees from employers to reimburse them for expenses that they have incurred in carrying out their employment. Includes payments for travel, subsistence, business phone calls and so on. |
| expenses | Outgoings you incur in the running of your business, employment, property letting and so on, or on the purchase or sale of an asset. |
| extra statutory concession | Something which the Inland Revenue allows in practice, although it would not strictly be allowed under the terms of the tax legislation. For example luncheon vouchers of up to 15p per day are tax free under an Inland Revenue concession. |
This page was last reviewed on 07 July 2004. The information may not reflect changes in legislation made after this date.
This is only a guide to your tax position and should not be relied on in place of professional accounting or tax advice. Any calculated figures are illustrative and are based on the data you provided.
