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Comment by csunbird | Hacker News Reader

In Europe, you pay taxes, as soon as you get them.

Totally depends on the state. In Ireland you don't pay anything when the stocks are granted to you (you're promised X stocks in Y months), you pay income tax (PAYE) on them when they vest (you receive the stocks) and then you pay capital gain tax (CGT) on the gains (sell price - vest price) when you sell them.

Example: you're granted 1 share today to vest in 1 year. In 1 year the share is worth 100, it vests and you pay PAYE in this (it can either come from your salary, or by selling the stock). If the stock rise to 150 and you sell it after, you pay CGT on 50.

> Example: you're granted 1 share today to vest in 1 year. In 1 year the share is worth 100, it vests and you pay PAYE in this (it can either come from your salary, or by selling the stock). If the stock rise to 150 and you sell it after, you pay CGT on 50.

Huh? Can you actually keep the stock and give revenue the money out of your post-tax? I wasn't aware that was possible.

Yes. To be fair, I never tried it. But my broker (Morgan Stanley) allows you to select how you want to receive them, the default method is "sell to Cover" (sell just enough to pay taxes) but you can also select "Sell All Shares" and "Pay Cash to Cover Taxes".

Huh, interesting. I used Schwab and don't remember ever seeing it. That would definitely have been worthwhile at some point in 2014.

This isn't correct. You pay CGT on the difference between grant and sale

The one loophole is to sell with 4 weeks, that is CGT exempt.

In my part of Europe, you pay on sale, not vest or grant.

Where in Europe?

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