As-Salaam-Alaikum,
I’ve recently accepted some RSUs from my employer which will be vested over 4 years.
The employer is a private company and the RSUs that have been offered are Double Trigger RSUs which means that not only do these RSUs have to vested but the employer also has to go through a Sale Event or an IPO (this may never happen before the RSUs expire).
So one can’t even sell any vested RSUs at any given time if they wished, both conditions must be met.
The online platform used to manage these RSUs has a FMV for a single share of my employer. From my understanding once these RSUs are vested they are assigned this value. See this.
I think one of the problems with holding these RSUs once vested is that you cannot easily liquidate them. So for example if the RSUs all together were worth 10 million dollars (crazy example) but your other liquid savings are significantly less then how can you afford to pay Zakat on the RSUs?
Does one have to pay Zakat on this type of RSUs?
Unfortunately I’ve not been able to find info on Zakat and Double Trigger RSUs, all current research on the internet refers to normal RSUs which you can sell immediately upon investing which is why I think scholars come to the correct conclusion that standard RSUs are Zakatable.
It seems for me that maybe someone shouldn’t own these RSUs if the FMV is so high and they’ve vested them but don’t have enough liquid assets to cover the Zakatable asset costs of the vested RSUs.
Does anyone know any scholars with enough knowledge of Western Finance to give a ruling on whether one pays Zakat on Double Trigger RSUs from a private company before both events are satisfied?
Thanks