Changes to the capital gains inclusion rate and the employee stock option deduction rate (as proposed in Budget 2024) will apply to stock options exercised and shares sold on or after 25 June 2024. The new measure reduces the stock option deduction and capital gains tax exemption from 1/2 of the taxable amount to 1/3 of the taxable amount, if an individual’s annual combined limit of CAD 250,000 has been exceeded. The individual taxpayer can choose how to allocate the preferential tax treatment between the stock option income and capital gains to the extent the combined limit has been exceeded.

The latest edition of our Field Guide to Going Global helps you examine foreign law issues for taking business models, products and technology international. Our guidance should be helpful whether you are working for a start-up company or a large multinational enterprise that is broaching new frontiers.

Further to our January 2024 client alert, the anticipated amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Services and Capital Markets Act (“FSCMA Enforcement Decree”) have been adopted by the Korean government cabinet on 27 February 2024 and promulgated on 5 March 2024. The amendments to the FSCMA Enforcement Decree are therefore effective as of 5 March 2024.

As of 5 March 2024, domestic employees of multinational companies who have acquired shares under a stock-based compensation program may sell such shares without the involvement of a Korean broker and may deposit proceeds from the sale of shares into an account with an overseas financial institution. For any shares sold/funds deposited prior to this date, the previous restrictions applied and these transactions could therefore remain problematic if they did not comply with the restrictions.

Last fall California doubled-down on the state’s hostility to noncompete agreements. Assembly Bill 1076 codified the landmark 2008 Edward v. Arthur Andersen decision that invalidated all employment noncompetes, including narrowly tailored ones, unless they satisfy a statutory exception. AB 1076 also added new Business & Professions Code §16600.1, requiring California employers to notify current (and certain former) employees that any noncompete agreement or clause to which they may be subject is void (unless it falls within one of the limited statutory exceptions).

On 19 June 2023, the Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) issued a notice according to which domestic employees can be sanctioned for violating the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act if they sell foreign-listed shares through an overseas broker or deposit funds resulting from the sale of foreign-listed shares with an overseas financial institution. To avoid sanctions, domestic employees are required to open an account with a Korean domestic broker, transfer the foreign-listed shares to such account, sell the shares through the domestic broker, and deposit the proceeds into an account with the domestic broker.

The Irish Government enacted the Finance (No. 2) Act 2023 on 18 December 2023, and the new tax withholding and reporting requirements for the exercise of unapproved share options by employees in Ireland will become effective on 1 January 2024.

Despite concerns raised by various industry groups and tax practitioners, the final legislation did not include any amendments, and further guidance and instructions are expected to be issued by Irish Revenue shortly.

In the interim, companies should prepare to comply with these new requirements for any unapproved options exercised by employees in Ireland on or after 1 January 2024.

On 19 June 2023, the Financial Supervisory Service of the Republic of Korea issued a notice which states that domestic employees may be sanctioned for violating the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act if they sell foreign-listed stock through an overseas broker or deposit funds resulting from the sale of foreign-listed stock in an overseas financial institution. To comply with the applicable regulation, domestic employees are required to open an account with a domestic broker and sell foreign-listed shares through such domestic broker.

On 14 March 2023, we recognized Equal Pay Day in the US. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn the same amount that men earned in the previous year. Because women earn less, on average, than men (according to the US Census Bureau), they must work longer for the same amount of pay. It is vital to know that the wage gap is even greater for most women of color. In the first video of the ID&E IMPACT video chats miniseries, Baker McKenzie’s Employment & Compensation lawyers discuss the increasing requirements for employers to disclose pay information, and practical tips to help negotiate the current landscape, particularly as a multistate employer.

Vietnam is becoming an increasingly important market for talent, and we have witnessed growing demand for the offering of share-based awards to employees in Vietnam in recent years. Due to currency control restrictions imposed by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), including the requirement that each plan be registered with the SBV, it has traditionally been challenging to implement a share plan in Vietnam. Since the adoption of Circular 10 in 2016, the SBV registration process has been clarified and a growing number of companies have successfully registered their plans with the SBV.

In this latest update of the Global Equity Matrix, we summarize the key issues for share-based awards and cash awards and cover tax and securities, exchange control, labor law and data privacy considerations for such awards in 50 countries.