Articles Tagged with Stock Option

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Employee-Stock-Ownership-Plan-300x200The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reports that many companies are using stock options as a way to attract and retain employees in the booming California business market. Employees granted stock options can profit by purchasing shares at a set exercise price and trading them at a higher price. Stock option incentives not only make employees more involved in your company but also provide an incentive for employees to help your Palo Alto business succeed. The better your business, the better your employees’ eventual payout.

The experienced Palo Alto business plan and stock option attorneys at Structure Law Group can use their expertise to review your stock option plan. We can analyze market trends and help you choose the best exercise price for your goals while protecting your legal interests. To schedule your stock option consultation, call our Palo Alto, California business attorneys today at 408-441-7500 or contact us online.

California Stock Option Law

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Articles of Incorporation are an essential requirement of forming a California startup corporation. This document is filed with the California Secretary of State’s office and establishes the corporation as a legal entity as well as certain key facts about the corporation, including the name of the corporation, its principal place of business, the name and address of its registered agent, the purpose of the corporation, and others. One of the most important decisions that founders are faced with when filing an Articles of Incorporation is how many shares of stock to authorize. There are many considerations that should be addressed when making this decision, so it is important for anyone considering forming a corporation to discuss their circumstances and goals with an experienced Silicon Valley business law attorney.Articles-of-Incorporation-300x225

Determining how many shares to issue can be complicated

Authorizing shares allows a company to divide ownership among many different parties and also makes it possible to raise capital. As such, it is important to authorize enough shares to accommodate growth but not so many as to make individual shares nearly worthless. Importantly, not all the shares that the Articles of Incorporation authorizes have to be issued, so a company can reserve shares for issuance at a later date. Some of the reasons it may be beneficial to authorize more shares than you plan on issuing include the following:

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More and more startups are issuing stock and other forms of equity as a form of compensation for work, especially in the early stages of a venture. This arrangement allows a business to recruit talent that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford and, if the company is successful, can result in a significant windfall for people who worked to get a company off the ground without a guarantee of compensation.toad-river-brown_3737_990x742

Generally speaking, when you are transferred equity in a company it is necessary to pay taxes on the fair market value of that equity as you would with any other type of income. In many cases, however, a grant of equity is subject to a vesting agreement, which means that the equity is not actually owned by the grantee until a certain period of time passes. As a result, at the time of the grant, nothing is actually owned, so there is no tax liability associated with the initial grant. When the stock vests, however, that income becomes realized, meaning that there may be significant tax liability, particularly if the company has done well.

83(b) elections can minimize tax liability associated with grants of equity

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Many companies issue stock options as a form of compensation or as an incentive to various parties. At their most basic, stock options are the right of a party to buy company stock at a predetermined price for a period of time. Generally, the agreed-upon price is similar to the market price at the time at which the option is issued. Two of the most commonly issued types of stock options are Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Nonstatutory Stock Options (NSOs). The information below provides some basic information about each type and highlights some of the differences between the two. For specific information regarding these types of stock options and how they may affect your business, call the Structure Law Group today to speak with a qualified business attorney.

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Incentive Stock Options

Incentive stock options can only be issued to employees, which means that members of the board of directors or independent contractors cannot be granted ISOs. These options are not subject to federal income tax when they are granted or exercised, but alternative minimum tax

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