Employee stock options have traditionally been used in companies to attract, reward and retain employees. In a PE Hub Canada feature article, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Partners Dov Begun, Lynne Lacoursière, Hemant Tilak and Colena Der provide a deep-dive analysis and discussion of Budget 2019's proposed imposition of an annual cap on stock options granted to an employee that will be eligible for the stock option deduction. One key takeaway: employees of Canadian startups and other rapidly growing businesses are expressly excluded from the $200,000 annual cap.
