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Looking at the Companies Register the answer is no, employees do not get equity. That's likely due to how equity-based compensation is treated in New Zealand ta
by sitharus 8y ago
Looking at the Companies Register the answer is no, employees do not get equity. That's likely due to how equity-based compensation is treated in New Zealand tax law. It gets complicated so it'd be unusual for a small company to do it.
- nathan_f77 8y agoThat's very strange. I have a friend who joined a startup in New Zealand, and they also didn't get any equity. Maybe startups in New Zealand could start offering some equity to attract the best software developers.
- sitharus 8y agoyep, the biggest NZ startup - Xero - gave equity to all full time employees. The difficulty is accounting for it due to how income tax is assessed on stocks which makes US-style stock options unattractive. Most companies that offer stock do it through a related-party loan and a bonus to pay that but there are interesting tax implications.