On November 30, 2020, the Department of Finance
("Finance") released its 2020 Fall Economic Statement
which included draft legislation (the "2020 Proposals")
refining previous proposed amendments to the taxation of employee
stock options. The changes had been anticipated, and are based on
previous draft legislation released on June 17, 2019 (the
"2019 Proposals"), summarized in more detail in our
update of June 27, 2019.
Finance had announced on December 19, 2019 that the 2019 Proposals,
which were to be effective January 1, 2020, would be delayed. The
2020 Proposals reintroduce them with some notable modifications and
clarifications.
Effective Date
If the 2020 Proposals are passed in their current form, they
will apply to employee stock options (a term inclusive of options
to acquire units in a mutual fund trust) granted on or after July
1, 2021. The 2019 Proposals, by contrast, were to become effective
January 1, 2020.
