Your long-term incentives may hinge on some form of performance metric, now that companies have been issuing performance awards in increasing numbers. Issuance of performance awards nearly doubled between 2006 and 2010, fueled by stock market volatility and increasing shareholder interest in seeing equity compensation tied to long-term return to shareholders.

The passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 called for a federal tax increase on high income earners, including many SFG clients. We observe that most taxpayers are too focused on completing 2012 tax returns to understand the impact of the Act on 2013 compensation. Just wait…