FASB Moves Towards Final Staff Guidance on Equity Plan Tax Effects

Perhaps the most complicated rules for expensing equity plan compensation are those concerning tax effects. Particularly troubling for many companies has been how to handle transitional issues moving from APB 25 to FAS123(R) for the "additional paid-in capital" attributable to tax effects. FASB had assumed that companies would have the requisite information to make these calculations. Comments indicated that this was often not the case, so the staff has come up with a simplified method, described in detail on FASB's site.