The Advisors' Blog

Managing the process of granting equity awards to employees in the U.S. alone is already a huge compliance effort, but multiply that by 10+ for multinational companies that grant awards to employees around the world — navigating many securities, tax, data privacy, etc., regulatory regimes. If you administer a global equity plan, this McDermott alert is your annual reminder to consider new regulations adopted in applicable countries in 2025. The memo addresses developments in China, the EU, Japan, the Philippines and the UK. It also shares these overall trends:

Income tax and social insurance rates

A number of countries have proposed income tax and social insurance rate and threshold changes for 2026. Similar to the last few years, during which most changes have increased the taxes due, many of these adjustments will increase the applicable tax rates, although there are a few exceptions this year.

Restrictive covenants

In 2025, various countries introduced legislation that curtailed restrictive covenants and limited their use solely to executive-level employees for short durations. We expect to see similar legislation in additional countries in 2026. The trend is based on a concern that these restrictions had become too common and were restricting the mobility of rank-and-file employees.

– Meredith Ervine