Documents it reads · Broker guide
Computershare / EquatePlus documents, for a UK participant
Tracepaper is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Computershare in any way. This page is written from Computershare's own public help pages and FAQs — not from any document with a real person's figures on it.
What each document is called, and where it is found
Computershare runs two different platforms for UK all-employee plans (SAYE and SIP among them) — EquatePlus, and an older Computershare-branded portal — and they render differently. A migration warning worth knowing: participants were advised to download their transaction history before the move to EquatePlus, so anyone who did not may hold a shorter history than their actual holding period.
| Document | Where it is found | Does the app read it |
|---|---|---|
| Statement (overview, plan details, transaction information) | The "Request Statement" function. | Reads — measured on invented documents only |
| Documents and correspondence | The Library section (called "Correspondence" before the migration to EquatePlus). | Not yet |
| Transaction history (downloadable) | Select the plan, then "Transaction History". | Not yet |
| Tax forms — a US form reference guide by award type; no UK equivalent named | Not recorded — the guide found covers US forms only. | Not yet |
The statement reading above has been tested on a layout modelled on Computershare and EquatePlus's own field vocabulary — fair market value per share, exercise price, gross and net proceeds — including the UK SIP fields below, not on a real Computershare document.
One thing worth knowing about a UK SIP account specifically
Computershare's UK SIP guide names a "Taxation Period end" date for each Matching or Dividend share lot — the day the shares become free of Income Tax and National Insurance — and shows them as "Matured Shares" from the next day, plus a separate "Holding Period end", the first day they can be sold or transferred. A sale before the Taxation Period end routes Income Tax and National Insurance through payroll, so it shows up on a payslip as well as at the registrar — worth having both documents if a SIP sale looks early.
What a UK participant does not receive
A SIP or Sharesave account run purely in sterling does not generate a 1099-B or a 1042-S — both are US tax forms. Where the same platform administers a plan holding shares in a US-listed company, non-US dividends are reported on a 1042-S instead of the 1099-B a US person would receive.
Mistakes these documents invite for UK tax
- The cost basis on the document is not always the UK base cost. Where an award is priced in dollars, the figure printed follows US rules — usually what was paid, or nothing at all for a nil-cost award. Under UK Capital Gains Tax the base cost of a nil-cost RSU is the market value at vest that was already charged to Income Tax, not the price paid (Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 s119A; HMRC Capital Gains Manual CG56337 and CG56384).
- Shares sold to cover the tax are still a disposal. HMRC treats the whole award as acquired first, so shares sold on the vest day to pay the tax are a same-day disposal in their own right — counted in the number of disposals and in the proceeds, even where the gain on them is nil (HMRC guidance, Employment Related Securities Bulletin 63, January 2026; ERSM140095).
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