News headlines reinforce what every business knows – that there are business reasons for providing security to C-suite executives. Those executives are seen as the face of the company and often bear the brunt of the public’s gripes against a company. Prominent business leaders, such as business executives, are often the targets of threats due to their affiliation with the company and are in need of protection as a result. Ensuring their safety is often…
On November 7, 2024, for the first time, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made available a form on which elections under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code may be made. This new Form 15620 provides a standardized method for elections and should streamline the process of making an 83(b) election. However, the new form is not required to be used, and taxpayers may continue to use their own form of election, provided it…
On September 17, 2024, the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) amended the existing rules governing employee share plan offerings in Israel, effective January 1, 2025. As part of these new rules, the ITA will reactivate dormant reporting obligations for employee share plan offerings in Israel and has also adopted new requirements and procedures for establishing share plan offerings with trustee arrangements. Join Baker McKenzie and Israeli Firms Herzog, Fox & Neeman and Phoenix – ESOP for a…
We have released the September 2024 edition of our “Clients & Friends Newsletter,” which reviews the latest developments impacting share plans globally. Explore the newsletter, and/or register for our upcoming October 8th webinar, to learn more about the impact of the following tax, legal and regulatory changes on your share plans:
Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced it would be using advanced analytic techniques and additional funding to audit tax compliance by businesses when their business aircraft are used for personal reasons by executives. The IRS’s Large Business and International Division also added a “Business Aircraft Campaign” to its list of compliance campaigns. This focus by the IRS appears to have triggered calls for it to revisit the manner in which personal use…
On April 12, 2024, Treasury and the IRS published proposed regulations on the 1% excise tax imposed by Internal Revenue Code Section 4501 on the value of stock repurchased by a US public corporation or a 50% affiliate. The proposed regulations elaborate on and clarify compensation-related issues that arose in Notice 2023-2, December 27, 2022 (addressed in our prior blog post), including: For a full discussion of these topics and practical tips on next steps, we…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year amended rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to shorten the securities transaction settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions, from “T+2” to “T+1,” meaning that securities transactions will need to be settled within one business day of the transaction date (“T”), effective as of May 28, 2024. Impact on Equity Awards The new SEC-required settlement timing will directly impact equity awards that are settled through…
On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) into law. One of the new provisions the IRA introduced is the stock buyback excise tax under Code section 4501, which applies as of January 1, 2023 and was designed to target large corporations that implement stock buybacks. Background Code section 4501 imposes a 1% excise tax on the value of covered corporation stock that is repurchased by the covered corporation or a…
2022 will be viewed as a year of political turmoil in the UK with three different prime ministers during the year. While all were leaders of the UK Conservative party, the tax policy objectives were significantly different leading to proposed changes being reversed in some cases. For more information on the latest developments in the UK, see our recent NASPP guest blog post here. *Thank you to our colleague Gillian Parnell in our London office…
On February 10, 2022, the Australian Parliament passed legislation which eliminates termination of employment as a taxable event for Employee Share Scheme (ESS) awards that qualify for tax deferral (i.e., stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units (RSUs), or an employee stock purchase plan offered to employees). ESS awards that qualify for tax deferral are subject to taxation when an “ESS Deferred Taxing Point” occurs. Currently, an employee’s termination of employment is one of the…