I want to give staff shares, but will they have to pay tax?

I want to give my employees shares, but I was told they would have to pay tax. How can they avoid this? 

The moment you want to issue or transfer shares in a company that has value, there is likely to be a tax impact now or in the future.

There are different ways that you can manage this, and all of which have different tax and timing outcomes.

 Some of the approaches that could be considered include an employee share scheme, issuing shares at market value, but only partly paid, or transferring shares from you as an existing shareholder to the employee and using the CGT concessions to manage your tax exposure.

Each of these approaches will produce a different outcome. Selecting the best approach requires getting specific advice to your circumstances and what you are trying to achieve.

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