Qualified Employee Stock Options, QESO, are an attractive way to give your Swedish employees an incentive (read more here). The requirement for the employee is that they work a minimum of 30 hours per day on average during the first three years, and that the total salary over that period is at least 13 basic income amounts (“inkomstbasbelopp”).
The basic income amount is updated every year. The new basic income amount for 2023 has now been decided, and it is 74 300 kr. The total for the whole period is thus 74 300 * 13 = 965 900 kr. Since this is the total salary the person needs during 36 months, this works out to an average of 965 900 / 36 = 26 831 kr per month.
Do older programs need an updated salary?
What happens to QESO programs for earlier years, does the minimum salary rise for subsequent years? This is not stated explicitly in the law, but according to an answer that we have received from the tax authorities (Skatteverket), it is the salary of the year when the agreement started that counts. This is good, since it means that you know before hand what the minimum salary requirement is for the entire period.
