As foreshadowed in the 2019 federal budget (Budget 2019), on
June 17, 2019, the Department of Finance released draft legislation
to limit the beneficial tax treatment generally available to
employees on an exercise or cash-out of their stock options (the
Stock Option Proposals). The federal government stated in
Budget 2019 that the proposed changes would become effective upon
the release of the legislative proposals. However, the Stock
Option Proposals provide that the proposed changes will only apply
to stock options granted on or after January 1, 2020. This
resolves uncertainty regarding the effective date of the new
measures.
The Stock Option Proposals will not apply to employee stock
options granted by Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs)
or other employers that satisfy certain yet-to-be-specified
"prescribed conditions". The prescribed conditions
are intended to exempt non-CCPCs that are "start-ups,
emerging, or scale-up companies". The Department