Resources: Newsletter Archives
REPORT OF CONTENT ADDED,
UPDATED, REVISED, OR EXPANDED
January, February, and March 2007
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1st QUARTER 2007: CONTENT ADDED, UPDATED, REVISED, OR EXPANDED |
 TAX CENTER
CONTENT TOPICS: Articles and FAQs
GLOBAL TAX GUIDE: China, France, Germany, India, Spain
GLOSSARY: New terms include mobile employee, sourced income, tradeable stock options, and more
ASK THE EXPERTS: Making sense of withholding for stock options and restricted stock on Form W-2; and more
MSO Pro is our membership level for financial and wealth advisors. It lets you track and model stock grants for multiple clients, and provides online tools for communicating with clients.
Content with the  symbol requires Premium or Pro Membership at myStockOptions.com.
The first quarter of 2007 kept our editorial team busy with many updates and additions to the award-winning content of myStockOptions.com. In addition, we sent email alerts on the taxation of income from backdated stock options and on Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.
We continue to expand our content in the section Life Events. Last year we started a new article series on retirement and added FAQs on retirement-related topics. In a new section (Life Events: College Funding), we have published the first of two articles by financial advisor Troy Onink about paying for college expenses with stock grants.
Elsewhere on the site, a new article about the taxation of stock grants for mobile international employees now complements the country-specific summaries in our Global Tax Guide. Written by Mark Miller of Deloitte Tax LLP, Taking An Overseas Assignment: Stock Compensation For Mobile Employees explains the key issues that surround cross-border taxation when you move between countries during the term of your stock grants.
Explore Our Award-Winning Library Of Content
Below is a selection of content we added or revised during the first quarter of 2007. Click on any of the section headings: the link will take you to the relevant topic area of the website. To view the content of any title that bears the logo, you must be a Premium or Pro Member of myStockOptions.com.
Please contact us at 617-734-1979 or sales@mystockoptions.com if you would like to receive more information on licensing our content and/or tools, on our custom websites for companies, and on our bulk Premium Memberships to our public site. Meanwhile, please consider the benefits of an individual subscription, and see who becomes a Premium Member of myStockOptions.com.
—Bruce Brumberg, Editor-in-Chief
Tax Center: Stock Options & SARs
When I file an extension to complete my tax return after the IRS deadline on April 17, are there any mistakes I should avoid that involve stock grant income?
In what ways can I pay my taxes if I don't have the money to pay them with my tax return?
Did the tax laws of May 2003 and May and December 2006 change the taxation of incentive stock options? Did it, for example, remove the exercise spread from the calculation of alternative minimum tax?
What happens if I live in state A when my stock options are granted, state B when I perform some of my services, state C when I exercise the options, and state D when I sell the shares?
Do I get a tax credit if I paid AMT when I exercised an ISO? How does it work, and did the tax law of December 2006 change this?
Tax Center: Restricted Stock & RSUs
What provisions in the American Jobs Creation Act, particularly on deferred compensation, can affect my stock grants?
I received a notice (CP-2000) from the IRS stating that, according to last year's tax return, I owe money for the sale of my restricted stock when it vested. I thought I paid all the taxes through withholding at vesting. How do I reply?
How soon after my restricted stock vests must the IRS receive my withholding taxes?
When I file an extension to complete my tax return after the IRS deadline on April 17, are there any mistakes I should avoid that involve stock grant income?
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Basics: Grants
Do I pay any taxes when stock options are granted to me?
Basics: Vesting
According to surveys, how are unvested stock options most commonly treated upon various types of termination?
Basics: Exercise
How do I exercise an option for cash?
What methods may be used to exercise an option?
What forms of exercise notice will my company accept?
Do blackout or lockdown periods exist for stock plans? Are there periods during which you can't exercise options or buy stock in an ESPP?
Basics: Alternatives
Restricted Stock Versus Stock Options: Making A Rational Choice (Part 2)
What do examples and surveys show about the effects mandatory expensing is having on my stock grants?
Basics: Valuation & Expensing
What do examples and surveys show about the effects mandatory expensing is having on my stock grants?
What does it mean when someone says that employee stock options have both face (or intrinsic) value and time value?
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NQSOs: Taxes
What happens if I live in state A when my stock options are granted, state B when I perform some of my services, state C when I exercise the options, and state D when I sell the shares?
NQSOs: Taxes Advanced
Taking An Overseas Assignment: Stock Compensation For Mobile Employees
What provisions in the American Jobs Creation Act, particularly on deferred compensation, can affect my stock grants?
My company backdated more stock options than just those of the senior executives. How does this affect employees like me and the taxation of my stock grants?
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ISOs: Basics
Do I receive any required information statement from my company about exercises, purchases, and sales related to my stock options and/or employee stock purchase plan?
ISOs: Limits
When I am no longer with my company (e.g., because of job loss or disability), will tax-law limits or deadlines dictate when I must exercise an ISO?
ISOs: Taxes Advanced
Taking An Overseas Assignment: Stock Compensation For Mobile Employees
My company backdated more stock options than just those of the senior executives. How does this affect employees like me and the taxation of my stock grants?
What happens if I live in state A when my stock options are granted, state B when I perform some of my services, state C when I exercise the options, and state D when I sell the shares?
ISOs: AMT
I held ISO stock on which I paid AMT in a prior year. Do I still need to determine my AMT even if I do not sell the stock?
Do I get a tax credit if I paid AMT when I exercised an ISO? How does it work, and did the tax law of December 2006 change this?
ISOs: AMT Advanced
I have large unused AMT credits. Does the tax law of December 2006 help me use them quicker?
Did the tax laws of May 2003 and May and December 2006 change the taxation of incentive stock options? Did it, for example, remove the exercise spread from the calculation of alternative minimum tax?
When I hold ISO stock, how far must the stock price drop from the market price at exercise for AMT to exceed what my ordinary income tax would be if I sold the shares this year?
What ISO strategies can help minimize AMT liability?
After I have paid AMT for my ISO exercise and hold, what are some mistakes that I must avoid on my tax return?
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Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) |
Employee Stock Purchase Plans: Basics
How does an ESPP work if it is not a qualified plan under Internal Revenue Code Section 423?
Employee Stock Purchase Plans: Rules
ESPPs And Your Financial Planning (Part 1)
Do I receive any required information statement from my company about exercises, purchases, and sales related to my stock options and/or employee stock purchase plan?
Do blackout or lockdown periods exist for stock plans? Are there periods during which you can't exercise options or buy stock in an ESPP?
Employee Stock Purchase Plans: Taxes Advanced
ESPPs And Your Financial Planning (Part 1)
If my company eliminates the lookback for my ESPP, will the tax treatment change?
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Restricted Stock & Restricted Stock Units |
Restricted Stock: Advanced
Restricted Stock Versus Stock Options: Making A Rational Choice (Part 2)
How does my grant of stock options or restricted stock affect my other employee benefits, such as 401(k) contributions?
Should I set up a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan to cover the stock I will sell or surrender to pay withholding taxes when my restricted stock vests?
What do examples and surveys show about the effects mandatory expensing is having on my stock grants?
Restricted Stock Units
Why would my company grant me restricted stock units (RSUs) instead of restricted stock?
Restricted Stock: Taxes
Taking An Overseas Assignment: Stock Compensation For Mobile Employees
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Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs) | Stock Appreciation Rights: Basics
What do examples and surveys show about the effects mandatory expensing is having on my stock grants?
Stock Appreciation Rights: Taxes
What provisions in the American Jobs Creation Act, particularly on deferred compensation, can affect my stock grants?
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Financial Planning: Advanced Strategies
What provisions in the American Jobs Creation Act, particularly on deferred compensation, can affect my stock grants?
What are price and time targets for stock option exercises?
What ISO strategies can help minimize AMT liability?
Financial Planning: Diversification
How do I calculate whether my after-tax gains will be greater by investing my current option spread into a mutual fund or a diversified stock portfolio, as opposed to just waiting to exercise the options at the end of the term?
Financial Planning: High Net Worth
Taking An Overseas Assignment: Stock Compensation For Mobile Employees
Financial Planning: Estate Planning
Why would I transfer stock options to a living trust? What is the tax impact?
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Job Events: Hiring
Taking An Overseas Assignment: Stock Compensation For Mobile Employees
What does it mean when someone says that employee stock options have both face (or intrinsic) value and time value?
Job Events: Termination
When I am no longer with my company (e.g., because of job loss or disability), will tax-law limits or deadlines dictate when I must exercise an ISO?
According to surveys, how are unvested stock options most commonly treated upon various types of termination?
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NEW! Life Events: College Funding
Funding Your Child's College Education With Stock Options And Other Stock Grants (Part 1) Life Events: Disability
Does income from stock options affect my payments under disability policies or pension plans?
Life Events: Retirement
How do stock grants affect the income limits of a Roth IRA?
When should I start taking Social Security benefits?
Life Events: Retirement Plans
How does my grant of stock options or restricted stock affect my other employee benefits, such as 401(k) contributions?
Does income from stock options affect my payments under disability policies or pension plans? Life Events: Death Taxes
Why would I transfer stock options to a living trust? What is the tax impact?
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M&A Impact
What will happen to my vested stock options if my employer is acquired by another company?
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SEC Law & Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans |
SEC Law: Basics
My company backdated more stock options than just those of the senior executives. How does this affect employees like me and the taxation of my stock grants?
SEC Law: Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans
How To Use Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans To Sell Company Stock (Part 1)
Should I set up a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan to cover the stock I will sell or surrender to pay withholding taxes when my restricted stock vests?
How widespread is the use of Rule 10b5-1 trading plans? Is information on their use available?
What are price and time targets for stock option exercises?
Is it possible to violate insider-trading laws by terminating or modifying my Rule 10b5-1 trading plan when I know material nonpublic information?
How long do Rule 10b5-1 trading plans last?
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Pre-IPO: Early Exercise
My company will go public soon. Can it grant me options now at an exercise price that is substantially lower than the expected IPO price?
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GLOBAL TAX GUIDE |
UPDATED OR EXPANDED
China
France
Germany
India
Spain
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NEW!
employee choice program
mobile employee
net unrealized appreciation
sourced income
stock-for-stock exercise
tradeable stock options
UPDATED OR EXPANDED
blackout period
covered call
golden parachute
grossup
run rate
stock swap
variable accounting
wash sale
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NEW!
Last year I exercised 5,000 stock options, and 2,000 shares of my restricted stock grant vested. I now have my W-2. How can I tell whether my company included this income, and what the tax withholding is?
Last year I sold 10,000 shares of company stock that I received a few years ago from a stock option exercise and restricted stock vesting. I have the 1099-B from my broker showing the net proceeds from the sales. Given that I received the shares some time ago, how do I determine their cost basis for Schedule D of my tax return?
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