In 2017, AmCham proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act and its Bylaw to ensure more favorable taxation of income from employee share plans. The key proposals include:

• a unified tax treatment for all participants in share plans, regardless of their status or whether the shares are publicly listed,
• classification of share plan income as capital income,
• a reduced tax rate of 12% instead of 24%,
• the value of granted shares considered as gross income (including tax and surtax),
• no social contributions obligation since it falls under capital income.

These changes would reduce the effective tax rate to 14.16% (including surtax) instead of the significantly higher current rates, thereby encouraging broader participation in share plans. Implementation requires amendments to both the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Bylaw.