Paying for tax liabilities on shares about to vest

Aristarcus

Hi,

I was given a share award by my company when the company went public, the first tranche will be vesting soon. I have received an email advising that I will be subject to withholding tax liabilities and that my company will arrange with the share plan administrator to sell enough shares to cover these liabilities and any associated costs on my behalf, after which any remaining shares will be transferred to me.  As the company's stock has more than halved since the lockdown I imagine that will be a number of units! (but then again I suppose the tax bill will also be halved...)

Would anyone have any idea if I can request to pay the bill separately rather than through sale of shares? Or is this just the way a company claws back its shares and is a standard procedure that I cannot avoid?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

ratechaser

Depends on the terms of the scheme you are in, my last employer gave us both options for any vesting shares. I always just sold shares to cover the tax...

But bear in mind that the liability will be based on the value of the shares on vesting, so it makes no difference if they are high or low, you'll end up 'paying' the same number of shares in tax...