Officers of my company are granted the option to receive a monthly stipend for the purchase of company stock, should the sale of this stock be handled as an ESPP?

[cbertz]

Officers of my company are granted the option to receive a monthly stipend for the purchase of company stock with no brokerage fee. The stipend can only be used to purchase stock and must be entirely committed to stock purchase. The stipend is taxable income. Should the sale of stock shares acquired in this manner be considered an ESPP?"

[TomYoung · Accepted solution]

If you're simply buying stock at no discount to the stock's FMV then simply treat the stock as plain-vanilla stock, no different than stock you'd buy through your broker. 

A proper "Qualifying" ESPP has to hew to the strict requirements of Section 423 and what you've described here sounds a lot more informal. 

Tom Young