Tool Helps Implement Global Stock Option Plans

A new Internet-based resource to help companies sift through the legal, financial, and tax ramifications of implementing stock-option plans outside the U.S. is now available from Arthur Andersen. Called ShareNet, the stock-option support tool offers detailed plain-English profiles of tax, securities, corporate, and labor laws in more than 50 countries. ShareNet rates each country according to the relative ease or difficulty of implementing a share plan, addresses the most common legal and tax questions in each country and outlines the tax implications in each country for the four most common types of stock-option plans: market-value option plans, discounted option plans, discounted-share purchase plans, and free-share plans. Annual subscriptions to the Internet research tool, www.aasharenet.com, cost $330 for a single country; $11,250 for all countries.