Employee Share Scheme (ESS) report

Registry Direct has a service to produce employee statements, create a ESS file for the ATO and lodge the ESS file.

If you provide your employees with 'ESS interests' under an employee share scheme (ESS) you have certain reporting obligations to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and your employees. Please refer to the ATO's website for more information around your obligations.

Reporting to your employees:

You must provide the ESS statement to your employee by 14 July after the end of the financial year. The statement will help your employee complete their tax return.

Reporting to the ATO:

The ESS annual report to the ATO for the 2015–16 onwards will only be accepted electronically. Reports are due by 14 August each year.

Please complete our ESS annual report lodgement spreadsheet and ESS supplier lodgement declaration document and email them to registry@registrydirect.com.au once completed. A copy of the spreadsheet and document can be downloaded at the end of this article.

Please note this functionality is only available under a tailored contract. To access this functionality, please contact us at registry@registrydirect.com.au. 

The spreadsheet:

The Registry Direct spreadsheet has 2 tabs:

- Employer Details; and

- Employee Details

Please ensure any fields marked with an asterix (*) are completed and accurate. Please see directions below on how to complete the document.

Employer Details

Company name*: The name reported in this field must correspond to the ABN, below. This should be the name that appears on the activity statements for that organisation.

ABN*: Full ABN Number. For Company's who do not have an ABN, please enter '0' in this field.

Financial year*: The financial year to which the information relates. It must be provided in the format CCYY. The field cannot be greater than the current financial year and not less than 2018. For example, if the information reported is for the financial year 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, the Financial year must be reported as 2018.

Reporting party trading name: The full trading name of the reporting party. If the reporting party does not have a trading name then this field must be blank filled. For example, ABC Holdings Pty Ltd is the registered name for an organisation trading as Australian Investments. The Name field for the reporting party would contain ABC Holdings Pty Ltd and the Reporting party trading name field would contain Australian Investments.

Postal address line 1*: Postal address line 1

Postal address line 2: Postal address line 2

Postal address Suburb / Town / Locality*: Postal address Suburb / Town / Locality

Postal address State or Territory*: Postal address State or Territory

Postal address Postcode*: Postal address Postcode

Postal address Country*: Postal address Country

Contact name*: The name of a person in the organisation responsible for the file or the data.

email address*: This must be used to provide the email address for the nominated contact person. The ATO can communicate with clients using email and it is expected that some correspondence to intermediaries or reporting parties (certain processing enquiries and general correspondence) may be issued this way.

Contact phone number area code: Contact phone number area code

Contact phone number: Contact phone number

ESS Startup Business Indicator*: A company that meets the start-up conditions as defined in Div 83A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 or the relevant legislation.Valid values are:
Y – Yes, start-up business
N – No, non start-up business

Employee Details:

Financial year end* (column B): Financial year ending in calendar year CCYY e.g. 2019

Reporting party employee identifier* (column C): A value reported for the employee which assists to uniquely identify them. This identifier could be the reporting party’s employee number or any other unique identifier the reporting party used to identify the employee. If entering numerous details for the same employee please sum these details up under this Reporting party employee identifier or create a new Reporting party employee identifier for each scheme. This is very important, if you enter the same Reporting party employee identifier any details recorded under any subsequent Reporting party employee identifiers will be ignored.

If you do not have unique employee identifiers in place, please allocate unique employee identifiers to participants in the employee share scheme.

If you are reporting data for the same employee on a subsequent file, the same Reporting party employee identifier must be reported.

First Given Name (column D): First Given Name

Second Given Name (column E): Second Given Name

Surname* (column F): Surname

Date of Birth (column G): Date of Birth. Format: CCYYMMDD

Employee TFN (column H): Employee TFN

Employee ABN (column I): Employee ABN

Street address line 1* (column J): Street address line 1

Street address line 2 (column K): Street address line 2

Street address suburb, town or locality* (column L): Street address suburb, town or locality

Street address state or territory* (column M): Street address state or territory

Street address postcode* (column N): Street address postcode

Street address country (column O): This field must only be completed if not Australia

Email address (column P): Only applicable if you would like us to send the employee statement to each employee. Please note, if we send statements this way, the 'signature of authorised person' will just be printed on the statement.

Mobile number (column Q): Mobile number

SRN / HIN (column R): This relates to the employee and is the identification number given to the investor by the issuer of the securities.

SRN is allocated by an issuer to identify a holder on an issuer sponsored or certificated subregister.

HIN is a number identifying registration on the Clearing House Electronic Subregister System (CHESS) subregister.

Scheme Type* (column S): The scheme type describes the way in which the scheme fits with the legislation.
Valid scheme types are:

E – Taxed up-front scheme – eligible for reduction
D – Deferral schemes
N – Taxed up-front scheme – not eligible for reduction
P – ESS interest acquired pre 1 July 2009
S – Start-up concession

Security Reference Code (column T): Security code identifies the financial product. It may be either an Australian securities exchange (ASX) code or an International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) security code.

Plan reference / identifier* (column U): This field must be populated with a value that makes a plan unique within all plans run by a particular reporting party. If a reporting party offers only a single plan to its employees, this field must still be populated.

Plan date* (column V): (also known as Date of Taxing Point) this is the date that a taxing point happens to an employee share scheme interest acquired by an employee. For an upfront scheme this will be the acquisition date. For a deferred plan this will be the deferred taxing point.

If the Scheme type field is D -Deferral scheme and the Discount from deferral schemes with a deferred taxing point during the year field is greater than 0, this field is mandatory.

If the Scheme type field is S, this field must be blank filled.

If the Number of ESS interests acquired during the year under deferral scheme field is greater than 0, and the Number of ESS interests with a deferred taxing point arising during the year field = 0, the Plan Date field must be blank filled.

The Plan date must be within the same financial year as the ESS annual report.

Where there is more than one taxing point during the year, enter the date of the first taxing point in this field.

This field must be a date on or after the date reported in the Acquisition date field.

Acquisition date* (column W): The acquisition date of the shares or rights/options.

Amendment indicator* (column X): Indicator to identify whether the Employee details data record contains original, amended or cancelled data. Refer to section 9 Amendments for further information. This field must be set to one of the following:

O – the Employee details data record contains original data that is being reported for the first time.
A – the Employee details data record contains amended data that is correcting what has previously been reported.
C – the Employee details data record contains cancelled data that has been previously reported incorrectly.

Number of ESS interests from taxed up front schemes eligible for reduction (column Y): The number of ESS interests acquired during the financial year not eligible for deferral but eligible for reduction.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is E this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is D, N, P or S this field must be zero filled.

If the Discount from taxed up front schemes – eligible for reduction field is greater than zero this field must be greater than zero.

Acquisition price of shares acquired under taxed up front schemes - eligible for reduction (column Z): The acquisition price of shares acquired during the financial year not eligible for deferral but eligible for reduction.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This amount is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is E this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is D, N, P or S this field must be zero filled.

Discount from taxed up front schemes – eligible for reduction (column AA): The amount of income assessable from ESS interests acquired during the financial year not eligible for deferral but eligible for reduction.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This amount is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is E this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is D, N, P or S this field must be zero filled.

Number of ESS interests from taxed up front schemes not eligible for reduction (column AB): The number of ESS interests acquired during the financial year not eligible for reduction or deferral.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is N this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, P or S this field must be zero filled.

If the Discount from taxed up front schemes – not eligible for reduction field is greater than zero this field must be greater than zero.

Acquisition price of shares acquired under taxed up front schemes – not eligible for reduction (column AC): The acquisition price of shares acquired during the financial year not eligible for reduction or deferral.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This amount is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is N this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, P or S this field must be zero filled.

Discount from taxed up front schemes – not eligible for reduction (column AD): The amount of income assessable from ESS interests acquired during the financial year not eligible for reduction or deferral.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This amount is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is N this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, P or S this field must be zero filled.

Number of ESS interests acquired during the year under deferral scheme (column AE): The number of ESS interests acquired during the financial year eligible for deferral.

If the Scheme type field is D this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, N, P or S this field must be zero filled.

If the Discount from deferral schemes field is greater than zero this field or the Number of ESS interests with a deferred taxing point arising during the year field must be greater than zero.

Number of ESS interests with a deferred taxing point arising during the year (column AF): The number of ESS interests with a deferred taxing point during the financial year.

If known, the number of ESS interests acquired before 1 July 2009 for which a cessation time has occurred during the financial year should also be included here.

If the Scheme type field is D or P this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, N or S this field must be zero filled.

If the Discount from deferral schemes field is greater than zero this field or the Number of ESS interests acquired during the year under deferral scheme field must be greater than zero.

Acquisition price of shares acquired under a deferral scheme (column AG): The acquisition price of shares acquired during the financial year eligible for deferral.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This amount is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is D this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, N, P or S this field must be zero filled.

Discount from deferral schemes with a deferred taxing point during the year (column AH): The amount of income assessable from ESS interests with a deferred taxing point during the financial year. For example, exercising the right and disposing of the beneficial interest in the share.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

The amount in the Discount from deferral schemes field will only be the amount relevant to the Number of ESS interests with a deferred taxing point arising during the year field.

If the Scheme type field is D this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, N, P or S this field must be zero filled.

Discount on ESS interests acquired pre 1 July 2009 – and ‘cessation time’ occurred during the financial year (column AI): The amount of income from ESS interests acquired before 1 July 2009 for which a cessation time may have occurred during the financial year.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

If the Scheme type field is P this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or S this field must be zero filled.

TFN amounts withheld from discounts* (column AJ): The amount of TFN withholding tax paid in relation to the assessable discount from ESS interests for which a taxing point arose during the financial year where the employee has not provided a TFN or an ABN.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

Discount amounts are assessable or gross* (column AK): Indicator to identify whether the amount of discount has been adjusted for periods of overseas employment or the amount of discount is based on a full year regardless of the period of overseas employment. Assessable indicates that the amount has been adjusted due to foreign employment. The applicability of this field is governed by non-residency provisions.

Valid values are:
A – Assessable
G – Gross

If the Scheme Type field is S, leave this field blank.

Number of shares acquired under start-up concession (column AL): The number of shares acquired during the year where the ESS start-up concession applies.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is S this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or P this field must be zero filled.

If the Market value of shares acquired under start-up concession field is greater than zero this field must be greater than zero.

Market value of shares acquired under start-up concession (column AM): The market value of shares acquired during the year where the ESS start-up concession applies.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is S this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or P this field must be zero filled.

Acquisition price of shares acquired under start-up concession (column AN): The acquisition price of shares acquired during the year where the ESS start-up concession applies.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This field is numeric and must not contain decimal points, commas or $+- or other non-numeric characters. It is right justified and zero filled. Zero is a valid value.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is S this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or P this field must be zero filled.

Number of options acquired under start-up concession (column AO): The number of options acquired during the year where the ESS start -up concession applies.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is S this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or P this field must be zero filled.

If the Market value of ordinary shares on the date options acquired under start-up concession field is greater than zero this field must be greater than zero.

Market value of ordinary shares on the date options acquired under start-up concession (column AP): The market value of an ordinary share at the time the options are acquired, where the ESS start-up concession applies.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

This number is only required to be reported in the year the ESS interests are acquired. It will not be required to be reported again in a future year.

If the Scheme type field is S this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or P this field must be zero filled.

Exercise price of options acquired under start-up concession (column AQ): Price at which the taker (buyer) of an option or warrant may buy/sell the underlying asset. Also known as the strike price.

This field must be reported in whole dollars.

If the Scheme type field is S this field may be greater than zero. If the Scheme type field is E, D, N or P this field must be zero filled.

Number of days of overseas employment (column AR): A period of foreign employment may allow you to reduce the taxable amount on ESS discounts if the employee is a foreign resident or temporary resident for tax purposes.

If the Discounts amounts are assessable or gross field is A then this field must NOT be zero filled.