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Employers can offer many different share schemes to their employees or directors, often as a way of rewarding employees and encouraging loyalty and participation in a tax efficient manner.
Contents
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Possible schemes include:
- Free or Discounted Shares
- Restricted share schemes (clog schemes)
- Share option schemes
- Key Employee Engagement Programme (KEEP)
- Flowering share schemes
- Forfeitable share schemes
- Convertible share schemes
- Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
- Save As You Earn (SAYE) Schemes
- Approved Profit Sharing Schemes
These schemes have varying terms, conditions, and tax treatment. This guide is a brief outline of each of the above schemes and is based on relevant legislation and administrative guidance in force at 1 January 2024.
It does not cover the schemes exhaustively but is intended to answer some of the important and broad ranging questions that may arise. When specific issues occur in practice, it will be necessary to refer to the laws and regulations of Ireland and to obtain appropriate accounting, tax and legal advice.
Authors
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Jillian O'Sullivan Jillian is a partner in Grant Thornton, as part of her role she leads the Company Secretarial offering for Grant Thornton Ireland, one of the leading professional services firms in Ireland.View Profile -
Jane Quirke Jane is a director in tax in our employer's solutions team in Ireland. She has significant experience advising clients from start-ups to large Irish indigenous and listed multinational companies on employment tax related matters.View Profile -
Michelle Dunne Since joining Grant Thornton’s tax department in 2016, Michelle has specialised in providing advice to clients on Irish employment tax related matters. She assists employers with PAYE Revenue Audits and compliance interventions along with reporting on PAYE tax related considerations for due diligence projects.View Profile