If a director or employee purchases shares at less than their market value he is liable to income tax on the amount of that discount as earnings of his employment. In Salmon1 the taxpayer was a managing director entitled under a service agreement to a fixed salary. In addition, the directors, by resolution each year, gave him the privilege of subscribing at par for certain unissued shares of the company. The market value of those shares was substantially in excess of par and it was claimed for the Crown that the difference represented assessable earnings. Lord Atkin, in delivering the only speech in the House of Lords, which upheld the assessment, said2:
'I think it is really impossible to appreciate the argument which suggests that that was not an immediate
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