Options + SAR (Stock Appreciation Rights)

Options or SARs: which fits your company?

Choose options when you want people to become real co-owners. In the Netherlands that usually means options on certificates in a STAK, so employees share in dividends and sale proceeds while voting stays with the STAK board. Choose SARs when you want a simple way to share growth without changing who owns the company, for example in a small business or for people outside the Netherlands. Quintus Willemse, founder of Share Council, describes a SAR as a bonus calculated in a clever way, and for tax it works like one: the payout is wage.

How Share Council sets them up

The Free / Micro plan covers the cap table, share registry and shareholder dashboards for up to 25 shareholders, but not SARs. For a SAR plan, email sales@sharecouncil.co. Options run on Co-Ownership Starter: you grant options over a future STAK with all the paperwork prepared up front (statutory articles, trust conditions, valuation method and rules of engagement), and most companies are set up in about a week, without a notary. Every grant gets a defensible strike price from the Equidam valuation included in the plan. The platform then tracks vesting, exercise and leavers for both instruments.

What it costs

Prices as of October 2026, excluding VAT, from the pricing page:

• Free / Micro: €0, for a cap table of up to 25 shareholders. SARs are not included.
• Co-Ownership Starter: €2,490 for the first year (includes 2 hours of setup support), then €1,990 a year, billed yearly. Billed monthly it is €253 a month in the first year and €202 a month after that.
• Formation of the STAK at the notary, when you are ready: €1,950, one-off.

A worked example

An employee receives 1,000 options with a strike price of €10. Some years later a share is worth €40. The employee pays €10,000 and gets shares worth €40,000, so the gain is €30,000. That gain counts as wage. Under the current rules it is taxed when the shares can be sold, or at exercise if the employee chooses that (article 10a of the Wage Tax Act). For someone already earning above €78,426 the rate on that slice is 49.50% (Belastingdienst, 2026 rates), so about €14,850 in tax. The employee now owns shares.

With 1,000 SARs on the same numbers, the company pays out €30,000 through payroll. The payout is wage, so the same rate applies, and the employee keeps about €15,150 in cash but owns nothing afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

Does granting options early save tax?

No. The tax lands on the gain at exercise or when the shares can be sold, not at grant. Granting early is about fairness: the people who join early get in at today's lower valuation.

What changes in 2027?

A bill, the Wet fiscale stimulering start-ups en scale-ups, proposes that from 1 January 2027 option gains at companies with start-up or scale-up status from RVO are taxed only when the shares are sold, and on 65% of the gain. The government estimates that works out at about 32% tax at the top rate. It covers options, not SARs, and it is not law yet, so it only applies if parliament adopts it. Our post on the 2027 option rules follows it.

Do SAR holders get a vote or dividends?

No vote. Whether a SAR also pays an amount equal to dividends depends on the contract you write.

Can I combine the two?

Yes. Some companies give options to the core team in the Netherlands and SARs to people abroad or to a wider group. See combining SARs and shares.

Where can I read more?

Start with the difference between stock options and SARs, RSUs, ESOPs and SARs compared and the SAR guide in our knowledge base. For the STAK route, read why the STAK offers a practical employee participation model.

Start for free and set up your first plan today.

Discover an initial, tailor-made quote on how co-ownership could be structured for your company.