For companies that are choosing whether to remain privately held, become a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), or go public, there are design, regulatory requirements and tax implications that must be considered for employee stock plans.

This case study-based session considers the choices companies have at each company life stage and how these impact equity compensation.

• Uncover the best plan designs for each company life stage
• Discover how to manage liquidity events
• Hear from WeTransfer, Stripe, and Edinburgh-based fintech FNZ, a UK unicorn-status company

Operating global share plans is a tricky business, and despite best efforts, errors can and do occur. In this session, the expert panel identifies common mistakes that arise with global share plans and how to address them.

In each case, you will discover how to rectify past errors based on real-life case studies and receive practical tips and best practices for mistake-free global share plan offerings.

• Uncover common mistakes in tax-qualified plans, including US Section 423 ESPPs, French-qualified option and RSU plans, and UK tax-qualified share schemes
• Learn how to deal with plan interpretation or governance failures
• Discover how to correct tax withholding, reporting and other compliance issues

The growth of the global economy has resulted in a significant increase in the number of companies with employees across multiple countries, presenting employers seeking to implement global share plans with unique challenges.

In this session, the expert panel will cover the most significant tax issues impacting global share plans. Topics include how to avoid ‘dry tax’ situations, where ‘sweet equity’ works, how to avoid taxation of equity awards at ordinary income tax rates, and more!

• Explore common global share plan designs and their tax treatment in various jurisdictions
• Discover how to secure capital gains treatment for equity awards across jurisdictions
• Explore impacts on mobile workforces and common tax pitfalls that can arise in various jurisdictions

Private companies have the unique opportunity to evolve their business throughout every stage of their life cycle. Whether you are an emerging company preparing to raise funds, or a late-stage company exploring your paths to liquidity, understanding the relationship with internal and third-party partners is key as is keeping your equity data ‘Transaction Ready’.

This panel will discuss important considerations for transaction readiness through major events such as fund raising, global expansion, new equity vehicles, liquidity events, and more.

• Identify the key stakeholders internally and externally for each event type
• Understand the timing and critical milestones leading up to an event
• Discover how to factor the employees’ experience into your plans

The liquidity madness of 2020-2021 has passed and alternatives to capitalize on investment, including prospects of employee liquidity are reducing. Companies who are mature and were planning on an IPO or sale, must change their strategy or sell at a low price.

This brings significant challenges to companies attempting to show employees value in their equity awards.

This session will focus on privately held companies in the Israeli market as a mirror to the global high-tech market.

• Find out if companies really have to wait for an IPO or sale to enable employees to liquidate part of their equity awards
• Discover how companies can attract employees when liquidity is unknown
• Hear best practice and learnings for private companies to engage their employees

Designing the ‘right’ equity plan design that works across different geographies can be challenging. What prospective employees expect, and what investors want, can be driven by local norms. How do global companies keep everyone happy whilst doing what’s right for the company and its strategy?

This session will look at current and emerging trends in executive equity incentives in the UK and US to highlight where there’s common ground, and where practice is diverging. The expert panel includes issuers who will give their front-line perspective on designing and selling plans to both UK and US employee audiences and discuss whether one-size-fits-all designs work, and the influence culture has on plan design.

• Discover how cultural perspectives on pay inform plan design in your country
• Find out how to reconcile pay-for-performance with caps on pay
• Learn whether the challenging economic environment and spiralling cost of living will lead to changes in plan design

The trend to hire globally based talent began well before the pandemic but has now become almost common place. Even large companies cannot always justify setting up local entities and hiring employees in a ‘conventional’ way, and are exploring alternative work arrangements, such as remote work, hiring consultants or hiring employees through a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) or Employer of Record (EOR).

The tax and legal issues for granting equity awards, not to mention the administration of such awards, can differ greatly depending on the grantee’s arrangement with the company.

This session shines a light on how US, UK and EU companies have tackled these challenges, examining the differences in communicating and documenting awards and provides an overview of the countries in which grants to indirect employees remain challenging.

• Explore the different service models prevalent in the market, with an emphasis on PEO and EOR arrangements
• Get an overview of the different tax and legal challenges for granting awards to individuals who are not employees of the issuer or a local entity in various countries.
• Hear solutions to the practical tax, communication and education challenges of administering awards granted to individuals engaged through an alternative work arrangement