Employee Ownership in Trinidad

Trinidad and Tobago now has about 22 registered employee stock ownership plans, covering about 10,000 participants. Companies register their plans as profit sharing plans with an employer stock feature. The plans operate through a trust, using not less than 40% of the profits shared with employees to purchase stock. The plans must conform to anti-discrimination rules similar to ESOPs in the US and UK. Shares can be paid out to employees after five years in the plan, but the longer the employee holds them, the lower the tax, dropping to zero if held until retirement. Efforts are no underway to create a separate statutory authority for ESOPs.