Tax Implications of Issuing or Selling Shares to Employees 2026 (live webinar)

A client approaches you. They are looking to provide employees with ownership in their company. They are at the early stages with numerous ideas and are looking to you for guidance. You have heard colleagues refer to ESOPs but are not sure what this actually means. Is it not as simple as having the company issue the employee new shares?

For many small businesses, having employees take an ownership stake in the company is vital:

• It locks the employee in
• It rewards the employee with something other than cash
• It enables succession planning to occur

Planning for this alongside your business owner client, understanding their needs and position and bringing the employee in on the journey is critical to success.

In this webinar, we will work through common ways that employees receive shares, we demystify the terms in this area and explain exactly when and how these will be taxed. We will use real-world examples where this has gone well and use examples where it has not gone well to outline potential alternatives. 

Upon satisfactory completion of this course, you will be able to:

• help clients with their employee share scheme design and implementation, from a straight sale, succession planning through to remuneration policies. 

This course will be suited to: 

• Lawyers and accountants who assist small business owners with their journeys, including those who:
• have existing share schemes
• are looking at implementing a scheme
• are looking at exiting business with a potential employee or group of employees taking over.

Duration: 1.00 CPD hours (approx. 55 mins content + 5 mins Q&A)

PRESENTER

Richard Muth, Senior Manager – Tax Advisory, Findex/Crowe
Richard Muth is an experienced taxation practitioner at Findex / Crowe having more than 15 years of experience with clients ranging from large multinational groups, Australasian groups, New Zealand based SMEs along with high-net-worth individuals.
Richard has worked with a variety of clients with their share schemes, setting them up, operating them and winding them up. Having worked with a wide variety of schemes, Richard has seen what works well and what does not.