Regular Tier 2 vs ICT

[giantmidget9]

I have a bit of a unique situation that I was hoping I could get some insight on:

I am a US citizen currently employed in another country since Feb 2017. In Sep 2017, I took a one year leave of absence (unpaid) to do a Master's degree in the UK on a Tier 4 visa, which will expire at the end of February 2019. I have returned to my employer since Sep 1 2018.

My employer has a UK subsidiary and would like for me to transfer there in February 2019. As I see it, I have two options:

1) Apply for a regular Tier 2 visa by converting my Tier 4, since it doesn't expire till the end of February. This would exempt my employer from having to perform the Labor Market Test.

2) Apply for an ICT Tier 2 visa. Again no Labour Market Test. This is my preferred option because of the tax advantages of being able to claim untaxed living expenses, and also not having to pay National Insurance for the first 52 weeks. However, my only concern is that UKVI could claim I don't meet the threshold of being at my existing employer for one year because by the time of my application, I would only have returned from my leave of absence for 6 months (even though I would have been employed by this company for exactly two years by the time of my application), and still even have a valid Tier 4 visa.

Would it be possible to apply for the ICT visa, or should I just aim for the standard Tier 4 to Tier 2 conversion?

Note: I'm not concerned about eventually obtaining residency in the UK as this is only a 2 year role and I eventually will return back to the US.