Employee share schemes

Employee share schemes (ESS) give employees a benefit such as:

• shares in the company they work for at a discounted price
• the opportunity to buy shares in the company in the future (this is called a right or option).

In most cases, employees will be eligible for special tax treatment (known as tax concessions).

Find out about:

• ESS basics – if you don’t understand a term we use, look it up here
• Employers – start here
• Employees – start here
• Key ESS changes in detail – changes effective from 1 July 2015 – go straight to these changes