Employee Share Schemes

Companies frequently turn to employee share schemes to attract and retain top talent. Although tax and regulatory reforms in recent years have removed some of the impediments to operating employee share schemes, Australia remains a complex jurisdiction. 

Our employee share schemes and incentives team provides ongoing advice to a variety of clients, including senior level executives and directors, startup companies, privately owned corporate groups and Australian and multi-national publicly listed companies. Our lawyers advise on all aspects of the design and implementation of employee and executive compensation plans. The group also advises on the tax and commercial issues that arise in the context of major corporate transactions including takeovers, demergers, corporate restructures, and securities transactions. 

The group provides a broad range of legal and commercial advice on all aspects of employee share schemes and incentives, including tax, corporate regulatory laws, and employment laws. 

View all team members Related insights

Employee Share Schemes

Our experience

  • Executive remuneration and benefits Expertise including LTIP arrangements (Performance Rights and Options), STI arrangement (Deferred Shares), sign-on shares and structuring of termination packages.
  • All-employee share and rights plans Expertise including share ‘matching’ plans, $5,000 salary-sacrifice plans and $1,000 tax exempt plans.
  • Employee share trust structures Expertise including making private ruling applications on behalf of trustees.
  • Bespoke share and rights plans Provided for unlisted private groups and private equity.
  • employee share scheme reporting Advising in relation to employee share scheme reporting obligations, payroll tax and fringe benefits tax.
  • Employee compensation Advising aspects of M&A transactions, IPOs and other corporate transactions.
  • Engagement with the Australian Taxation Office Advising on emerging areas of tax risk and litigation of contentious employee share scheme matters in the Australian courts.