If you’re reading this, it probably means that you, or somebody close to you, is…
ANZ Employee Share Plans (+ Free ANZ CGT Calculator)
Are you an ANZ employee (or former employee) who has participated in an Employee Share Plan?
You’ve come to the right place. We can assist you with working out the tax implications for all ANZ share plans including:
- ANZ Employee Share Offer (Previously known as $1000 Share Plan) (ESAP)
- ANZ Deferred Share Plan
- ANZ Share Save Scheme (ESSS)
We have even made available the most ace ANZ Employee Share capital gains spreadsheet for the most simple of the plans, the $1,000 share plan, but before you read any further, please understand that this is not to be taken as tax advice that applies to your specific situation.
You need to be an active client of Beyond Accountancy to obtain advice from us. This is especially true for a highly complex area like employee shares. This article is an invitation to become a client or to seek advice.
Other than that, we supply general information, not specific advice.
ANZ Employee Share Plan tax implications
There are multiple events that can occur with ANZ employee shares that will trigger a taxing point, that is, something you need to deal with when completing your tax return.
- Dividends (including dividend reinvestment – DRP)
- Allocation of shares
- Release of restrictions on shares
- Sale of shares
ANZ employee share dividends
Dividends are the simplest event. You include the dividends received in your tax return, even if you reinvest the dividends and even if your shares are still under restriction.
ANZ employee share allocations (not deferred)
Allocation of shares is sometimes a tax event and sometimes not. If you receive shares that are unrestricted (e.g. Employee Share Offer/$1000 share plan allocation) you include the value of the shares received in your tax return.
However, the ATO will not tax the first $1,000 of shares in your income unless you earn over $180,000.
The ANZ plan was designed with those rules in mind. That is, they set up the scheme so that most employees get a tax free bonus paid in shares every year. Don’t forget to include the amount in your tax return even if you earn below $180,000.
If you fill in the right box on the tax return the ATO won’t tax you.
ANZ employee share allocations (deferred)
In some plans e.g. deferred plans, you receive an allocation of shares with restrictions. You are not allowed to sell the shares for a certain period, most commonly 12 months.
Usually, you are not taxed on these shares when you receive them. You are taxed at the point the restriction ends. In the olden days (pre-2009) shares could be held in a share plan for 10 years and the tax-deferred until the end of the 10 year period.
For all of the above scenarios, ANZ will supply dividend statements and end of year tax statements with the exact amounts you need to include on your tax return. That makes things a lot easier. Under the old rules (pre 1 July 2009) each employee had to do their own calculations, and it was hard work.
ANZ employee share plan capital gains
The sale of shares held in a plan either results in an “employee share assessable discount” or a capital gain. They both count as income on your tax return, but capital gains have the advantage of using capital losses and the 50% CGT discount.
This is where it gets tricky. You have to work out your own tax position.
The employer won’t usually supply capital gains tax (CGT) information for you. Plus, if you sell shares within 30 days of their taxing point then this can make the figures your employee provided on your tax statement incorrect.
This is where you should really seek accurate advice.
Free ANZ CGT Calculator
As promised, here is possibly the best spreadsheet ever created for ANZ share plan capital gains – our free ANZ CGT calculator.
If you enter all the data for your shareholdings, it will calculate the capital gain on the sale of shares. If you have not sold the shares the workbook will calculate an estimated amount of capital gains tax that you will incur.
We have found the historical DRP prices from the ANZ website and the allocation prices from tax statements from some of our clients who have participated in the ANZ $1,000 share plan. Of course, all confidential information has been excluded. The figures presented are only amounts and dates that apply to any shareholder.
Link to excel sheet: CGT – ANZ ESAP 1000 Plan
If you need further assistance you can book an appointment by calling 1300 823 011 or by using the online booking form.
Please note we cannot give advice to non-clients or give free advice.