It is crucial to ensure that your stock plan operations are aligned with the latest tax updates and compliance requirements. To facilitate a smooth start to the new year, our own Marc Tipton, has compiled a comprehensive checklist to guide you through 11 key best practices to maximize the efficiency of your stock plan administration process:
- Check timelines for stock plan platform tax updates. Some local and specialized rates aren’t finalized until February or March.
- Ensure personal tax rates have been reset to zero.
- Coordinate with your internal and external teams, as well as stakeholders.
- Revisit manual processes to identify opportunities for automation.
- Identify risks and establish redundancies to avoid single points of failure.
- Communicate blackout periods to your platform providers.
- Update insider and Section 16 lists to reflect Q4 2024 changes.
- Share the schedule of releases with Section 16 employees, your legal group, and Form 4 filing team.
- Address pain points from last year and seek outside opinions for best practices.
- Determine high-activity times and bring in additional help to manage the workload during those periods.
- Pinpoint low-value tasks consuming significant time (such as loading grants, processing exercises/releases, and running routine reports) and explore outsourcing options.
By addressing each item diligently, you can fortify compliance efforts and streamline processes for a successful start to the new year. The proactive measures outlined in this checklist are designed to enhance efficiency, mitigate risks, and foster collaboration among your teams.
Should you have any questions or need further assistance with the checklist items, please contact us for more information.
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