Employee share schemes

We have pre-filled your tax return with employee share scheme information provided to us. Check for employee share schemes you received that are not pre-filled and ensure you add them.

This section is about discounts on employee share scheme interests (ESS interests) that you or your associate received under an employee share scheme. ESS interests are:

• shares
• stapled securities (provided at least one of the stapled interests is a share in a company)
• rights to acquire shares and stapled securities.

An ESS interest acquired by your associate in regard to your employment is treated as though the ESS interest was acquired by you.

The discount is the difference between the market value of the ESS interests and the amount paid to acquire them.

The ESS interests can:

• be from an Australian company or a foreign company
• relate to your employment inside or outside Australia
• relate to a work relationship other than employment, for example sub-contracting.

Changes to employee share schemes took effect on 1 July 2015 and apply to ESS interests acquired on or after that date. These changes include:

• a tax concession through which some discounts on ESS interests in start-up companies will not be taxed under the employee share scheme regime, as long as the eligibility criteria are met. Subsequent gains on the disposal of these ESS interests will be taxed under the capital gain tax rules
• changes to the 'deferred taxing point'.

Discounts on eligible ESS interests provided to you by a start-up company will not be included on your Employee share scheme statement and should not be included at this question.

For more information about employee share schemes, see Employee share schemes - Employees.

If any of the following apply to you:

• you received a discount on ESS interests acquired under a 'taxed-upfront scheme'
• a 'deferred taxing point' occurred in respect of your ESS interests under a 'deferral scheme'
• a 'cessation time' occurred during 2015–16 in relation to a qualifying ESS interest you acquired before 1 July 2009 under an employee share scheme, and you had not elected to be taxed upfront on the discount

see Employee share schemes for more information. Otherwise, you may not need to complete this section.

Also, if any of the following apply, see Employee share schemes - Employees for more information:

• you were a temporary resident or foreign resident when you received your ESS interests
• you received ESS interests from a foreign employer
• you disposed of your ESS interests because of a corporate restructure or takeover and received replacement ESS interests.

If an associate of yours, for example your spouse, acquired an ESS interest as a result of your employment, you must include the discount in your assessable income. Your associate does not include the discount on their tax return.

Completing this section

You will need your Employee share scheme statement or comparable statement from each employer with whom you participated in an employee share scheme. If you do not have all your employee share scheme statements or comparable statements, contact your employer.

1. For each employee share scheme that has not been pre-filled in your tax return, select Add and enter information into the corresponding fields.
2. Select Save.
3. If myTax calculates that you may be entitled to reduce the amount of the discounts received under taxed-upfront schemes, this will be displayed as ESS adjustment.
4. Select Save and continue.

Instructions on completing your individual tax return using myTax.