Should I accept stock grant?
It may sound complicated, but accepting your stock grant should be a no-brainer for anyone who's starting at a new company. It's low-risk and can provide measurable benefits down the road. To get started on the ins and outs of stock options, check out part 1 of our series Equity 101: Startup Employee Stock Options.
Alert: You may need to formally accept the grant with a print or online signature. If you do not, you may forfeit the grant. Alternatively, your ability to exercise options or receive awarded shares upon vesting may be suspended until you have formally accepted the grant. The court cases Newell Rubbermaid v.
Stock options give employees a share in the potential upside of the company's success. They are high-risk, high-reward compensation. You don't know how much they will be worth when they're first issued. But if the company does well, employees with large option grants stand to gain significantly.
An option grant is a right to acquire a set number of shares of stock of a company at a set price.
This means you can actually buy shares of company stock. Until you exercise, your options do not have any real value. The price that you will pay for those options is set in the contract that you signed when you started. You may hear people refer to this price as the grant price, strike price or exercise price.
As with RSUs, stock grants typically vest after a period of time, or after certain performance measures are met. You're not liable for income tax until your stock grant vests, at which point you must report income equal to the value of the stock you received.
In some cases, your RSUs may be taxed twice. The good news is that you will not owe taxes on your RSUs right away at grant. They do not have any real value until they vest, which can be years down the road depending on the company you work for and if they are public or private.
Selling RSUs immediately upon vesting is a common approach for many individuals. The reason behind this strategy is to avoid any potential decline in the company's stock value. By selling right away, you can lock in the value of your shares and mitigate potential risks tied to stock market fluctuations.
When an employee receives Restricted Stock Units, they have an interest in the company's equity, but the units have no tangible value until they vest. Once the RSUs vest, the employee can keep, sell, or transfer the shares, just like any other stock. Companies use RSUs as a form of employee compensation or bonus.
The main goal in granting stock options is, of course, to tie pay to performance—to ensure that executives profit when their companies prosper and suffer when they flounder. Many critics claim that, in practice, option grants have not fulfilled that goal.
What is the difference between a stock grant and a stock option?
Those who receive stock grants can't sell their shares until a certain period of time, known as the vesting period. Shares that are received by using stock options can be resold at any time.
When you're granted stock options, you literally have the “option” to purchase company stock at a specific price before a certain date. Whether, and when, you actually purchase the stock is entirely up to you. RSUs, on the other hand, grant you the stock itself once the vesting period is complete.
When stock options expire, the contract becomes null and void – as we said earlier. But if you're in the money, it's likely your contract will be exercised automatically. In these cases, your contract is converted into shares of stock at the strike price.
Stock Options are usually better for both employee and employer at an early stage company. For a later stage company, RSUs are usually better for both.
Basics of Option Profitability
A call option buyer stands to profit if the underlying asset, say a stock, rises above the strike price before expiry. A put option buyer makes a profit if the price falls below the strike price before the expiration.
They can only report the unadjusted basis — what the employee actually paid. To avoid double taxation, the employee must use Form 8949. The information needed to make this adjustment will probably be in supplemental materials that come with your 1099-B.
Tax rules for awards
The current federal income tax rate on compensation income can be as high as 37%, and you'll probably owe an additional 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT). You may owe state income tax too. Any appreciation after the shares vest is treated as capital gain.
Qualified RSUs are taxed at either the long-term capital gains tax rate or your ordinary income tax rate, whichever is lower. For 2021, the long-term capital gains tax rates are 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending on your taxable income. Ordinary income tax rates range from 10% to 37%.
RSUs are considered a form of compensation and are included in your taxable income when they vest. Because RSU income is considered supplemental, the withholding rate can vary between 22% and 37%. Usually, your employer will liquidate a percentage of the shares to cover the withholding requirement.
If your employer grants you a statutory stock option, you generally don't include any amount in your gross income when you receive or exercise the option. However, you may be subject to alternative minimum tax in the year you exercise an ISO.
What is the 30 day stock tax rule?
Key Takeaways
A wash sale occurs when an investor purchases a security 30 days before or 30 days after selling an identical or similar security. The IRS instituted the wash sale rule to prevent taxpayers from using the practice to reduce their tax liability.
Mandated by US tax rules, unexercised employee stock options expire 10 years from date of grant and are absorbed back into the company.
A common rule of thumb is to sell restricted stock units when they vest because there is no tax benefit to holding the stock any longer. In a silo, selling RSUs as they vest often makes sense, but the decision can be complicated if you have other forms of equity, namely employee stock options.
Under a standard four-year time-based vesting schedule with a one-year cliff, 1/4 of your shares vest after one year. After the cliff, 1/36 of the remaining granted shares (or 1/48 of the original grant) vest each month until the four-year vesting period is over. After four years, you are fully vested.
Typically, a stock grant comes with a vesting period, and the employee only receives the stocks if they stay with the company through that time. An employee forfeits the stocks if they leave before their stocks vest. For example, a company grants a new employee 100 shares of stock as part of their compensation package.
