Our lawyer Thiago Braga took part in an article published in the magazine Consultor Jurídico (ConJur), which dealt with a decision by the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) that recognized the commercial nature of stock option plans, which gives legal certainty to the issue and should also have an impact on the discussion about the levying of social security contributions on these amounts.
The tax expert explains that there is a lot of relevant litigation before Carf (the Tax Appeals Administration Council) and the Judiciary involving, in addition to IRPF, social security contributions. “We hope that the Federal Revenue Service will respect the STJ’s decision and extend it to social security contributions as well, avoiding legal uncertainty,” said the lawyer, who sees another positive effect of the ruling. “Many companies and individuals ended up taxing these amounts to avoid tax assessments. This created a problem of competitiveness and lack of equality, involving taxpayers who were or were not willing to take risks,” he says.
The stock option plan is offered to executives and strategic employees of the company, with the aim of aligning interests and encouraging productivity. The company offers purchase options at a fixed price, but they can only be exercised after a vesting period. As a rule, this gives the employee the chance to buy them at a price well below that practiced on the market.
Read here: https://lnkd.in/d_envccZ