Having the right employee remuneration and engagement structure in place is crucial for an SME when competing to attract and retain talented staff. This paper explores the tax issues for various employee equity incentive arrangements relevant to privately owned businesses including:??
- whether a “vanilla” ESOP/ESS can be effectivelyimplemented for an SME
- loan arrangements to fund share acquisitions (FBT– Div 7A implications)
- dividend access and other special class shares
- phantom equity plans
- issues arising for particular SME business structures (eg trusts).