Dear EOA Subscriber,

The cessation of employment taxing date for employee share scheme (ESS) interests is to be removed. The changes were made in the Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle Framework and Other Measures Bill 2021 (Cth) (Bill) which was introduced into parliament yesterday.

Assuming that the Bill receives Royal Assent prior to 1 July 2022, the new rules will apply to any ESS security if the taxing point occurs after 1 July 2022. It is not dependent upon the date that the ESS interest is issued, which was previously the case.

The Bill does not include the proposed changes to the corporate rules regulating the offering of ESS interests. These were the subject of a detailed consultation earlier this year (see EOA Submission).

Next steps

Examine the terms of any ESS offers to accommodate the new cessation of employment rules.

A link to EOA's response to the bill can be found on our website.

Watch it again: ESS Tax and Regulatory Reform

A big thank you to everyone who attended the seventh EOA Expert Panel Webinar, with Tom McCarty from Link Market Services and Shaun Cartoon and Eileen Liu from Arnold Bloch Leibler, held on Thursday, 21 October 2021 at 9am (AEDT).

During 2021 the Government has provided a roadmap of significant regulatory and tax reforms that will make it easier for businesses to offer Employee Share Schemes, which will ultimately support Australian businesses to attract and retain their top talent. Join Tom as he discusses the proposed new ESS tax and regulatory changes in Australia with Shaun and Eileen.