8 July 2013

This e-Tax Guide provides details on the tax treatment of the gains and profits derived from employee share options (“ESOP”) and other forms of Employee Share Ownership (“ESOW”) plans as well as the relevant administrative requirements.

It also covers details of Qualified Employee Equity-based Remuneration Scheme (“QEEBR Scheme”), the “deemed exercise” rules and tracking options applicable to gains from ESOP and ESOW plans.

It would be relevant to individuals who are granted the shares under ESOP or ESOW plans and also companies which grant shares under these plans to any individual by reason of any office or employment held by the person.

In this second edition, revisions were made to include the categories of affected employees (paragraph 13.1) and to provide clarity when an individual is deemed to derive the final gains under the deemed exercise rule (paragraph 14.2).

The second edition replaces the first edition published on 29 June 2012.

Source: This article was extracted from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) website. Visit http://www.iras.gov.sg/ for more information.