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.
You will be taxed on the discount in the year in which you acquired the interest. Such schemes are known as 'taxed-upfront schemes'. However, if you and the scheme meet certain conditions the taxing point is deferred until a later time. These tax-deferred schemes are known as 'deferral schemes'.
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 section.
For more information, see Employee share schemes.
The conditions of the scheme in which you participate and your personal circumstances determine when you pay tax on the discount you receive.
You may be entitled to reduce the amount of the discounts received under taxed-upfront schemes by up to $1,000. You may qualify for the reduction if certain amounts on your tax return add up to $180,000 or less. MyTax will calculate this for you. For more information, see You need to know.
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. See also What you may need.
We have pre-filled your tax return with employee share scheme information provided to us. Check for employee share scheme statements you received that are not pre-filled and ensure you add them.
- For each employee share scheme that has not been pre-filled in your tax return, select Add and enter information into the corresponding fields.
- Select Save.
- 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.
- Select Save and continue.
Tax tip
Make sure you keep your statements for at least five years after you are assessed on your discounts.