Introduction
⚠️  The tax information below is an extremely brief summary for standard situations of the referred relationship, and each situation may of course be different from the norm and have its own specificities. ⚠️
A more comprehensive set of information for this country and work relationship is available on Easop.
If you’re looking for more detailed information in this country (or if you are just curious about our global compliance offering and pricing), get in touch with us and we’ll tell you more about it! 💡
Regular employee
✅ You can definitely grant non-qualified stock options (NSO) to employees in Italy. It’s a good way to incentivize your team members without too much hassle!
In a nutshell, what does taxation look like?
- At grant 👉 No taxation.
- At exercise 👉 The spread (i.e. the difference between the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise and the exercise price paid by the grantee) will likely be taxed as professional income and be subject to income tax.
- As from exercise 👉 After exercising, the grantee will need to pay wealth tax on the owned shares.
- At sale 👉 The difference between the sale price and the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise will be subject to capital gains tax.
Is there a tax-favored scheme and how can I make sure the grantee can benefit from it?
There are two potential benefits for the grantee under certain conditions.
Employee via EoR
✅ You can definitely grant non-qualified stock options (NSO) to EoR employees in Italy. It’s a good way to incentivize your team members without too much hassle!
In a nutshell, what does taxation look like?
- At grant 👉 No taxation.
- At exercise 👉 The spread (i.e. the difference between the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise and the exercise price paid by the grantee) will likely be taxed as professional income and be subject to income tax.
- As from exercise 👉 After exercising, the grantee will need to pay wealth tax on the owned shares.
- At sale 👉 The difference between the sale price and the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise will be subject to capital gains tax.
Is there a tax-favored scheme and how can I make sure the grantee can benefit from it?
There are two potential benefits for the grantee under certain conditions.
Contractor
✅ You can definitely grant non-qualified stock options (NSO) to contractors in Italy. It’s a good way to incentivize your team members without too much hassle!
Note that granting stock options to contractors could increase the misclassification risk (i.e. the contractor relationship being requalified as an employer-employee relationship, with all tax consequences that can go with it). This will never be the only factor though, what counts primarily for determining the degree of misclassification risk are factors relating to the modalities of the services performed (control over the contractor’s work, exclusivity, term of the services, etc.).
In a nutshell, what does taxation look like?
- At grant 👉 No taxation.
- At exercise 👉 The spread (i.e. the difference between the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise and the exercise price paid by the grantee) will likely be taxed as professional income and be subject to income tax.
- As from exercise 👉 After exercising, the grantee will need to pay wealth tax on the owned shares.
- At sale 👉 The difference between the sale price and the fair market value of the shares at the time of exercise will be subject to capital gains tax.
Is there a tax-favored scheme and how can I make sure the grantee can benefit from it?
There is a potential benefit for the grantee under certain conditions.
