TikTok workers in the US have been saddled with multimillion-dollar tax liabilities on shares they are unable to sell, at a time when the Chinese-owned video-sharing app is battling a potential US ban.ByteDance, the app’s Beijing-based parent, is facing a backlash from US employees over a stock awards programme that blocks them from cashing in their shares while leaving them exposed to a large potential tax bill, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former workers.
The frustrations pit some of TikTok’s US workers against the company at a sensitive time for its leadership. The US Senate is weighing a bill that would force the sale of the app over national security concerns, or have it banned.
Nnete Matima, who in August left her job as a TikTok sales executive, said she was on the hook for a “potentially substantial” tax bill. “There are people who have a six-figure tax liability on [income] that they have never received,” she said.