ARTICLE · 20 JANUARY 2015

Employee share scheme changes - exposure draft legislation released

McCullough Robertson

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The Government released exposure draft legislation in relation to taxation changes of employee share and option schemes.

AustraliaTax

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by Hayden Bentley, Reece Walker and Melinda Peters

Earlier this week the Government released exposure draft legislation in relation to the changes to Australia's taxation of employee share and option schemes (ESS), which were announced in December last year.

The draft legislation confirms the proposed concessions allowing 'start-ups' to issue shares at a discount of up to 15% to market value, or grant of 'out of the money' options in circumstances where employees will potentially pay no tax until the shares are ultimately sold.

To qualify for the 'start up' concessions certain conditions related to the status of the employer and the terms of the scheme must be satisfied.

Conditions

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