Our Scans · (FS.3.05) Employee Share Ownership · Weekly Summary

• The Indian startup community will be looking for directions that could boost the ecosystem, especially concerning tax policies related to carry-forward losses, employee stock options, etc. Mint
• Under the new German rules on ESOPs, taxes on employees' stock options will be deferred until the point of sale so that staff are not faced with the prospect of being taxed on their shares as soon as they receive them. CNBC
• Employee share ownership plans have become increasingly common for multinational, listed and unlisted companies operating in South Africa as a way to attract, retain and reward their employees. Accountancy SA
• ESOP holders in Indian startups could gain from the tax being levied on the sale of shares rather than on the exercise of ESOP, which is not the liquidity event for employees of unlisted companies. Times Now
• The threshold for companies that can take advantage of German ESOP plans will be raised so that firms with up to 1,000 employees and a maximum of 100 million euros ($108.7 million) of annual revenue can distribute shares to staff. CNBC
• In Massachusetts, the 55-and-over crowd owns 53% of all small businesses - some 68,000 companies, which have more than 775,000 employees and $162 billion in annual revenue - according to Project Equity, an organization that advocates for employee ownership. The Boston Globe
• There are a bunch of schemes in the UK you can use, from enterprise management incentives to company share plans to growth shares. The Sunday Times
• Building a strong foundation for employee ownership could be a cost-effective way to tackle Canada's sustainability priorities - if we get it right. The Conversation
• Employee stock option plans (ESOPs) have been gaining importance in India as an effective tool to attract, retain and motivate talent. Moneycontrol
• If Canada converted firms to employee ownership at a similar pace, it could see as many as 757 conversions in the first eight years after EOTs were introduced. The Globe and Mail
• Scaling up employee ownership could quadruple the share of wealth held by the bottom 50% of U.S. households. Common Dreams
• PE firms that buy ownership stakes in companies have pledged to institute employee ownership at a minimum of three portfolio companies by the end of 2023. Ernst & Young
• EMI plans have increased in popularity year on year and are the largest contributor to income tax and NIC relief of all UK tax-favoured employee share plans. People Management
• In the UK, tax-favoured plans include enterprise management incentives (EMI) targeted at small, higher-risk trading companies with assets of £30m or less and fewer than 250 employees. People Management
• With SB 1407, advocates hope to build a foundation for employee-owned companies to become a significant part of California's economy, and to inspire other states to follow suit. The Democracy Collaborative
• In the United States, only 10.3% of workers (14 million people) are union members, while the number of people working for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) - the most common form of employee ownership - is about 10.2 million (7.5% of all workers). Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
• Some states, such as Colorado, have started official employee-ownership commissions and dedicated new funding to support business conversion to employee-owned cooperatives or ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans). Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
• The Centennial State, a nascent ecosystem in 2020, by 2035 becomes a beacon of innovation for models of employee ownership. Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
• Intentions to double the number of employee owned businesses by 2026. HR Magazine
• 2022 will see the growth of a new hybrid workforce in which human employees share their workload with digital employees. AI in Business
• Employee stock based incentives: If an expatriate is based in India only for a part of the vesting period, then only the proportionate amount related to the period of service in India will be liable to tax in India. TaxGuru Consultancy & Online Publication LLP
• Morgan Stanley has spent billions in recent years buying firms that it hopes will help it attract younger clients, like online broker E Trade and employee-stock-plan administrator Solium. WSJ

Last updated: 25 April 2024