Tax errors can be costly! Don't draw unwanted attention from the IRS. Our Tax Center explains and illustrates the tax rules for sales of company stock, W-2s, withholding, estimated taxes, AMT, and more.
Video included! For private company employees with stock options, RSUs, and shares in the company, an initial public offering (IPO) presents unique planning circumstances. We asked financial advisors for their insights. Read their responses in their own words.
My clients who work at startup companies preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) are giddy with thoughts of the wealth and opportunities their pre-IPO stock compensation will provide. I try to set them straight with five financial-planning points that may help to manage their post-IPO expectations.
The biggest surprise for employees with stock options at pre-IPO companies is often the amount of taxes they need to pay when their company goes public or is acquired. When they exercise their options after the IPO or as part of the acquisition, selling the stock at the same time, a large chunk of their proceeds goes to pay federal and state taxes. This article looks at ways to reduce this tax burden.
Stock grants in privately held companies can be structured in surprisingly diverse ways, many of which are not commonly known. This article looks at stock plan details in the Form S-1 SEC registration statements of IPO companies to explain how stock options and restricted stock grants at private companies may be different and more complex than the standard types of grants used by public companies.
Podcast included! As privately held companies prepare for their market debuts, they make changes in their equity compensation programs beyond just stock options. This article looks at some of the shifts you can expect in your stock grants from the startup stage through the IPO and the post-IPO periods.
UPDATES! Finding legal techniques to minimize taxes is almost as popular in the US as stock compensation. These sophisticated techniques with founder's stock and options can defer or reduce taxes. Qualified small business stock (QSBS) is the most famous.
Stock options and restricted stock in pre-IPO companies can create substantial wealth, but you need to understand what might happen to your stock grants in venture capital financings, in an acquisition, or in an initial public offering. While Part 1 looks at venture financings and M&A deals, Part 2 analyzes IPOs.
Stock options, restricted stock units, and other types of equity compensation are valuable benefits. When the company's stock price becomes a rollercoaster, remember that equity comp is a long-term deal. This article offers expert advice for coping with stock-price volatility.
You can expect SEC and contractual restrictions on your freedom to sell your company stock immediately after the public offering. The exact number of days until you can sell depends on...
Companies have flexibility in setting the conditions on which their stock grants can vest. This type of double-trigger vesting allows your company to base the vesting of your grant on...
Valuation of stock in pre-IPO companies remains as much an art as a science. However, as the company nears the actual IPO, reliable benchmarks exist...
If an IPO company wants to lock in the IPO price as the initial grant-date price of its employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), it can do so for the initial offering period of up to 27 months...
The vesting of the grant will probably accelerate according to specifics in your stock plan or grant agreement. The grants will probably be cashed out. Depending on your level in the company and the length of your employment, you may receive a meaningful grant in your newly private company that will require you to...
Yes. Sometimes an underwriter and the company will release a portion of the lockup shares for sale before the lockup period expires. For example, Facebook did this in 2012 when it...
Except at times when a number of affiliates will simultaneously sell a portion of their stock, a public company is unlikely to register an affiliate's stock for resale...
The SEC Rule 144 requirement that current public information about the company be available is met if the company has filed all the required reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934...
Tax errors can be costly! Don't draw unwanted attention from the IRS. Our Tax Center explains and illustrates the tax rules for sales of company stock, W-2s, withholding, estimated taxes, AMT, and more.
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