Tax treatment of employee stock option and share ownership plans in Singapore

Abstract

This article considers the tax treatment in Singapore of employee stock option (ESOP) plans (in which qualifying employees are granted stock options) and employee share ownership (ESOW) plans (in which qualifying employees may own or purchase shares). After describing the main features of the ESOP and ESOW plans, the article discusses, among other things, the various types of ESOP incentive schemes (for small enterprises, for all corporations and for start-ups) and the tax treatment of gains from employee stock options and share ownership.