Contract templates currently German only
Virtual Employee Stock Option Plan (VSOP)
Give staff a stake in success — virtually, without a notary and without a real shareholding, with vesting and an exit payout.
Virtual participation (VSOP / phantom stock) grants employees or consultants a purely contractual claim to a cash payment on exit — without a real shareholding, without voting rights and without notarization. The wizard governs vesting, good/bad leaver, payout triggers and anti-dilution protection, and explains taxation as employment income upon inflow.
- Law by country
- GDPR-compliant
- No AI training
- PII masking
- Lawyer handover
- Seven languages
What's in this template
Numbers from the actual definition — not marketing slides.
- Clauses
- 11
- Clause variants
- 9
- Wizard fields
- 15
- Quality checks
- 6
- Legal basis citations
- 9
What the contract contains
- Grant of virtual shares with a base value (strike)
- Vesting (4 years with cliff or shorter)
- Good/bad leaver rule
- Exit payout (optionally plus distributions)
- Calculation formula and anti-dilution protection
- Clarification: no shareholder status, wage tax
Optional additional clauses
- Participation in ongoing distributions
- Anti-dilution protection pari passu with founders
When you need this contract
- Employee participation without issuing shares
- Incentivizing key people and advisors
- Building a virtual participation pool (ESOP alternative)
- Retaining talent in start-ups
Who it is for: Start-ups and growth companies that want to give staff a stake without amending the cap table before a notary.
For complex fields such as the scope of services or the purpose, you can request a suggestion via the sparkle button — the suggestion stays editable before it enters the contract.
Once created, you can hand the contract to a suitable lawyer from our network with one click — including full text and metadata.
The payout is subject to wage tax as employment income; the tax relief under § 19a EStG applies only to real shares, not to VSOP. A complete forfeiture of vested amounts may be invalid — tax and employment-law advice is recommended.
Our templates are ready-made documents that you adapt to your case. They are not legal advice and do not replace a review by a lawyer; we give no guarantee of correctness, completeness or up-to-dateness. Use is at your own responsibility.
Frequently asked questions
A finished contract in 5 minutes.
Answer a few questions — the wizard does the rest. PDF + DOCX ready to download.
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