What Non-US Startups Need to Know About Granting Stock Options
What Every Start Up Should Know About Stock Options
Common Equity Plan Pitfalls
Why is a 409A Valuation Important?
Early Exercise Stock Options
Nowotny on Death and Taxes Episode 6 Surfs Up Dude! High Tech Tax Solutions for High Tech Workers
Episode 26: Talking Tax Reform and Executive Comp
Much of the talk about Canada’s federal budget released on April 16, 2024 (“Budget 2024”) has been concentrated on the increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, highlighted by criticism from the business community that...more
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s decision in Boyer v. Callidus, 2024 ONSC 20 (“Callidus”) serves as a helpful reminder to employers of the importance of carefully drafting, documenting, and communicating contractual...more
The TSX Venture Exchange’s (TSXV) incentive stock option policy was amended in late 2021 to cover a variety of security based compensation commonly used as compensation tools, including deferred share units, performance share...more
On October 18, 2021, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Battiston v Microsoft Canada Inc., 2021 ONCA 727, in which it overturned the trial court's finding that termination provisions in a stock award...more
For many public corporations, employee stock options have historically represented the "holy grail" of equity-based employee compensation. While providing an opportunity for employees to share in their employer's growth in a...more
In the 2019 federal budget, the Canadian federal government announced changes to the taxation of employee stock options. On November 30, 2020, in its Fall Economic Statement, the federal government announced it was moving...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the financial markets and stock prices. Through the spring of 2020, share prices have experienced extreme volatility and, in some cases, have traded at unforeseen...more
Many public and private companies utilize employee compensation plans that are designed to deliver employer shares or cash compensation based on share price and/or other financial performance measures, which have been...more
On December 19, 2019, the federal government announced that proposed changes to the tax treatment of employee stock options will not come into force on January 1, 2020....more
On June 17, 2019, Canada’s finance minister tabled a Notice of Ways and Means Motion regarding the taxation of employee stock options. This follows from the government’s announcement in the 2019 Budget that it intended to...more
New legislation proposed in the 2019 Federal Budget would limit the extent to which employees will be entitled to favourable Canadian income tax treatment on certain stock options....more
On March 19, 2019, the Minister of Finance introduced Canada’s 2019 federal budget (2019 Budget). The government had already signalled that the primary focus of the 2019 Budget would not be business concerns as those had been...more
CHANGES TO INSOLVENCY PROCEEDINGS, CORPORATE LAW AND PENSIONS - The 2019 Budget proposes to introduce legislative amendments to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Canada...more
We are frequently asked to review Canadian companies’ stock option, restricted share unit (RSU), performance share unit (PSU), deferred share unit (DSU), and other stock-based compensation plans for U.S. securities law...more
Welcome to the 19th issue of the Blakes Pensions Newsletter. This newsletter provides a summary of recent jurisprudential developments that affect pensions and benefits and is not intended to be legal advice....more
A Canadian company that proposes to grant stock options or other types of equity compensation to persons in the United States must comply with the securities laws of the state in which the recipient is located, unless the...more
A Canadian SEC reporting company that looks to acquire a company with outstanding equity grants in the United States will frequently need to address the question: What alternatives are available for the assumption of the...more
The newly elected federal Liberal government is committed to exploring enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). At the same time, the Government of Ontario is progressing with the implementation of the Ontario...more