Belgium: Stock options: extension of exercise period with no tax consequences
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As a reminder, the Economic Recovery Act of 27 March 2009 (published in the Belgian Official Journal of 7 April 2009) provided for the possibility to extend the exercise period of stock options stemming from plans concluded between 1 January 2003 and 31 August 2008 without any tax.
The employer may thus extend, by common consent with the beneficiaries, the exercise period of the current stock options by a maximum period of 5 years without any complementary benefit for the beneficiaries.
The tax authorities have just published a circular detailing the terms of applicability providing, among others:
- it must concern stock options already granted but not yet exercised or already expired due to the conditions of the plan;
- the options must have been granted to the beneficiary between 2 November 2002 and 31 August 2008;
- each beneficiary may extend all his options for a total fiscal amount of EUR 100,000, the surplus is not taken into account.
Regarding the formalities:
- the company that granted the options must conclude a written agreement with the beneficiaries before 30 June 2009;
- said company must then notify the agreement to the tax authorities before Friday 31 July 2009.
For more information please contact: Jean-Louis Davain jean-louis.davain@loyensloeff.com (+32 2 743 43 45) at Loyens & Loeff, Brussels
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