Equity Plan Solutions

Registered Retirement Savings Plans, or RRSPs, are a significant way to save and should be considered when planning for retirement. Through your Employee Share Purchase Plan, TSX Trust can help you add a Group RRSP component to support your employees well beyond their time with your company.

With an RRSP account:

• your employees will benefit from being able to purchase shares using pre-tax income, and
• income saved in an RRSP account is not taxed until withdrawn, which will allow its value to grow and the tax to be deferred for your employees.

Since a Group RRSP requires a trustee, there would be no need to attain third-party trustee services as TSX Trust is a Canadian Trust Company and may act as trustee and administrator for your plan. With our experience and technology-based solutions, TSX Trust represents the best choice for outsourcing your plans. We support your efforts to empower your employees and to invest in their future.

This Employee Share Purchase Plan component allows taxpayers to earn tax-free investment income inside their TFSA account. Subsequently, the resulting income and capital gains are tax-exempt. With this account, your employees can look toward larger goals, such as growing their savings, planning for retirement, or investing.

TSX Trust is here to help your employees reach these goals. If you would like more information about Tax-Free Savings Accounts, please reach out to your Client Services Manager.

Through an Employee Share Purchase Plan (ESPP), employers can increase employee productivity and engagement by offering employees the opportunity to invest in the company.

We help our clients build the best plans for their companies. With our experience, technology-based solutions and dedicated client-servicing team, we can administer various Employee Share Purchase Plans.

We offer single sign-on, making it easier for participants to enroll, view their balance and transact from their account in real time. With online participant enrollment, we can also ease your administrative workload by collecting the payroll deductions and changes from employees to regularly invest. If your company pays dividends, we offer automatic dividend reinvestment.

Participants may trade in real time, set limit orders (day or 30 days), and receive their proceeds via direct deposit (Electronic Funds Transfer), cheque, or wire in various world currencies (as available).

We manage various plan rules, such as withdrawal restrictions, offering real-time warning. Additionally, we have the functionality to impose trading blackout and/or preclearance for trading.

TSX Trust continues to engage with former employees of a company through the Former Employee Plan. When an employee leaves a company or is terminated from an Employee Plan, they may keep their shares.

The Former Employee Plan provides the following advantages:

• RRSP and TFSA shares remain registered, eliminating the tax impact that would result if shares were to be sold or certificated out of the plan
• Yields no annual administration cost to the plan sponsor
• Allows former employees to transact at any time

An employee stock option plan can provide real value to employees and has long served as a successful tool to attract top executives and to retain and motivate rising talent. There are various avenues available to both public and private businesses looking to pursue an employee stock option plan and Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs). We offer expertise across all products to help companies develop a complete understanding of the options available to them along with the implications of each.

TSX-managed stock option plans include the following features:

• Online grant delivery and acceptance
• Manage blackout and window periods, including associated approvals (preclearance)
• Comprehensive tracking of all grants and transactions
• Exercise modeling and valuation
• Release or holding of shares in an account, allowing for future sale
• Exercise and execution support for you and your participants, including withholding calculation
• Collect payment of option cost/taxes for cash exercises via direct debit processing
• Process delivery by direct deposit (EFT), cheque, or wire in various world currencies (as available)
• Online real-time administrative reports

Performance Share and Restricted Share Units (RSUs) have become an increasingly popular vehicle for rewarding top-performing employees while helping companies control the volume of shares allocated. Yet detailed records must be maintained, including individual vesting information, payment records, and tax and reporting mandates.

Both public and private companies rely on TSX Trust for their comprehensive management of their restricted share and performance award plans, offering both administrative and trustee services. We take an "all-of-the-above" approach and can purchase/hold securities for the benefit of employees until the assets become vested, and we oversee the initial grant process, including online award acceptance and tax election. Upon vesting, TSX Trust is able to handle tax withholding obligations, remit and report, as well as disburse assets to the employees.

What can you expect when you enlist TSX Trust as your partner?

• We set up an account for the participant, disseminate detailed information about the unit, and simplify the restricted-share awards acceptance process via our comprehensive online tool TSX Trust Employee Central.
• We notify the participant that a taxable event will occur on the award’s vesting/release date. Our participant site provides models that can help a participant determine which tax and share option will best fit his or her personal situation. Once a participant makes a determination, TSX Trust records the election and executes based on employee instructions.
• We also ensure timely release of vested shares and any associated tax payment information.

TSX-managed restricted share and performance unit plans include the following features:

• Online grant delivery and acceptance
• Administration of blackout and preclearance
• Processing of dividend equivalents
• Deferral processing
• Online release processing, for both participants and issuers, that includes multiple tax payment and share distribution methods
• Comprehensive tracking of all units and transactional histories, including real-time access for you and your plan participants
• Customizable vesting and termination schedules, both for performance-based and service-based vesting awards
• Vesting support, including withholding calculation
• Release or holding of shares in an account, allowing for future sales in real-time trades with limit-order capability

Beyond traditional plan administration, companies must comply with internal and external reporting requirements. For some companies, this can be a recordkeeping nightmare. But for an TSX Trust customer accustomed to our technology-based capability, compliance is a completely integrated component of our financial reporting services.

To satisfy disclosure and expense accounting, TSX Trust provides a comprehensive and detailed financial reporting solution. Some of the key features include the following:

• Comply with IFRS 2 and ASC 718
• Support both equity and liability accounting
• Expense mobility and allocation tracking
• One-click disclosure table reporting
• Full award modification capabilities
• Maintain all equity expense reporting in one platform
• Reduce audit costs through detailed source reporting
• Maintain an audit trail of any changes by authorized users

TSX Trust has long recognized the value of technology to improve your experience. We are industry leaders in meeting the unique needs of our customers, offering a customized technology platform and reporting tool designed to provide optimal flexibility and support for your business.

With a reporting tool that’s integrated within the TSX Trust Equity Plan Solutions administration system, information to support your reporting needs is at your fingertips. This platform has proven to be highly effective in several areas, including the following:

• Scheduling: Through the system’s “report scheduler,” reports can be generated and delivered based on your needs (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly). Report requests can be added to the system’s calendar so that they are automatically generated based on the programmed schedule.
• Multiple Formats: Reports can be accessed and downloaded into a variety of formats, including HTML, Excel, PDF, and Comma-Separated Value (CSV).
• Customization: Reports can be customized by adding or removing specific data elements from any core report.
• Ad Hoc Capability: This allows reports to be generated for specific needs.