Re:U.S. bill to exempt small virtual currency transactions f...
by paulmd on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @01:07PM
(#22109548)
> The counterargument here is that the officers of the company can make most of their income not from being paid oodles of cash, but from being given oodles of stock that they later sell back to the company, which is now capital gains and not ordinary income.
Unless the stock option gains value (which is capital gains), no, the option itself is treated the same as if they had been paid cash.
> In general, the tax treatment for stock received as compensation for your services -- that is, stock in lieu of pay -- is the same as for regular pay. You must pay income taxes on the fair market value of the stock you received. Say an employer gave you 100 shares of stock in lieu of pay, and on the day you received the shares, the stock was trading at a price of $40. You've received the equivalent of $4,000 in income, so you'll be responsible for paying taxes on $4,000 in income. How much that tax will be depends on your tax bracket.
Re:U.S. bill to exempt small virtual currency transactions f...
by pertymcpert on Tuesday January 21, 2020 @12:08PM
(#22108813)
How do they avoid paying tax on receiving the stock? If you're given shares, that counts as income at fair market value.
From a matter of tax form simplicity, it is much easier--and probably better for society--just to count everything as ordinary income and tax it as such. Fewer potential for loopholes that drive your effective tax rate down to 0; easier to actually do your taxes yourself; etc.