Good news – the IRS announced that it will allow taxpayers to make and file Section 83(b) elections with a digital signature. This decision makes permanent a practice that the IRS temporarily allowed during the COVID-19...more
If you’re reading this, chances are this is not the first time you’ve heard of the 83(b) election (and if it is, then definitely keep reading). The “83” in “83(b) election” refers to Section 83 of the Internal Revenue Code,...more
Many people are forming start-up entities, especially in the Boston and Worcester areas, and for some, it becomes a great success story. For others, it does not. As an attorney who assists many start-ups and investors, I see...more
In the first part of this four-part series, we provided a high-level summary of stock option basics. In this second installment, we build on those basics and begin our exploration of stock option program “enhancements” by...more
As an emerging or startup technology company seeking funding, your focus is likely on your product - it is the core of your business. That being said, how you protect your technology and set up the company that owns it can be...more
Update: on April 15, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would temporarily (through December 31, 2021) allow Section 83(b) elections to be signed digitally or electronically, instead of requiring handwritten...more
Some years ago, I published an article on the importance of understanding the tax rules applicable to equity grants, with a particular focus on being aware of the timing rules for filing an 83(b) election and the importance...more
On April 15, 2021, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a temporary deviation from the handwritten signature requirement for a limited list of tax forms, including...more
Equity compensation – which links the self-interests of a company’s service providers with the interests of the company and its investors – is a compelling incentive for start-up companies to attract and motivate employees...more
A Section 83(b) election is a short, generally one-page document you send to the IRS to notify them that you wish to be taxed in connection with property subject to a "substantial risk of forfeiture" (more on this below) that...more
Business is back . . . Sort of- As the country begins its hoped-for recovery from the disruptive economic effects of the COVID-19 virus – or, more accurately, from the measures implemented by government to contain the...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2020-23, 2020-18 IRB 732 (April 27, 2020) (the “Notice”) providing a temporary extension, until July 15, 2020, for Internal Revenue...more
A limited extension, until July 15, 2020, is available for Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 83(b) elections otherwise due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. It will be especially important for...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS recently issued Notice 2020-23 to extend the deadline to July 15, 2020, for any Internal Revenue Code Section 83(b) election that would otherwise have been due on or after April...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2020-23, which automatically postpones certain deadlines affecting employee benefit plans. Specifically, any deadline that would ordinarily fall on or after April 1, 2020,...more
What is an early exercisable stock option? An “early exercisable” stock option is like any other stock option awarded to an employee, consultant, director or other advisor, except that the holder may exercise the option...more
In recent years, equity compensation programs have increasingly been using restricted stock units (RSUs). A manufacturing company recently made news when it granted RSUs worth millions of dollars to thousands of its employees...more
An election introduced as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act allows taxpayers to defer the recognition of taxable income with respect to certain categories of compensatory stock options and restricted stock units (RSUs)....more
The new Section 83(i) of the tax code, enacted as part of the Tax Act, allows certain private company employees to elect to defer, solely for income tax purposes and for a period of up to five years, the income attributable...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes a new provision that can delay the taxation of compensation paid to employees of “eligible corporations” in the form of “qualified stock” for up to five years. The provision is set forth in...more
Contractors, advisers, and employees (collectively, “Service Providers”) who receive property that is non-transferrable or subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture must generally defer their income recognition until those...more
A taxpayer who makes a Section 83(b) election to accelerate the income taxation date of certain transferred property is no longer required to file a copy of the Section 83(b) election with his or her tax return for the year...more
Phantom equity is a colorful term for a simple concept: compensation that rewards key contributors for increasing the value of the company without the immediate issuance (or even any future issuance) of equity securities....more
On July 23rd of last year, I blogged on a set of proposed regulations eliminating the requirement that a taxpayer attach a copy of his or her Section 83(b) election to their individual tax return. This July, the IRS made the...more
Under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code ("Section 83(b)"), a taxpayer who receives certain property subject to vesting as compensation for services (for example, a restricted stock award granted by the taxpayer's...more