My (Canadian) company is about to be sold and as one of the first employees I'm expecting a significant payout from options (e.g. $2M !).
That sounds like an incredible amount of money, but this is Vancouver — land of the $1M crack house. After grad school, student loans and >10 years of startups, I have no pension, and no house.
Assuming I was to pay tax at regular income tax rates, I would have about half of this left, enough to buy a house or a pension, but not both.
Is there anything I can do to reduce tax? Do I just leave Canada? (I also have E.U. citizenship). Can I just become non-resident for the year?
I don't mind paying tax on the income the money would bring, but to lose 50%, then pay 40% tax on the income from an annuity, and still not have a house seems a bit much.
- I know the answer is "get a good accountant" but I just wondered what all the silicon valley types on S.O. did.