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! Incentive stock options (ISOs) are potentially quite valuable. However, they are more rule-bound, complex, and risky than nonqualified stock options (NQSOs). In fact, mistakes with ISOs can be quite costly. This article presents five key aspects of ISOs that you must know at the time of grant, before you exercise the options, and when you sell the shares.
Videos included! Stock options rose to fame in the 1990s. Even on the TV sitcom Seinfeld, Elaine got stock options and wouldn't shut up about them (annoying the heck out of George). Options remain popular. This article explains the two types and how they work.
With expert insights from the editor-in-chief of myStockOptions.com, this video covers the essential aspects of employee stock options that you must know to make the most of them, including the key concepts of vesting, exercise, and the option term. Running time: 4:12.
Podcast and video included! So your company has granted you stock options. Now what? Stock options give you a potential share in the growth of your company's value without any financial risk to you until you exercise the options and buy shares of the company's stock. Before you exercise your options, their built-in value is subject to pre-tax growth—which can be significant. This article explains the essential facts that you must know to understand your options and make the most of them.
Avoid the fumbles others made with options during past ups and downs in the stock markets. Situations where common errors tend to arise can be classed into nine categories, including option-term expiration, job termination, corporate mergers, financial planning, and various life events.
Podcast included! Stock options are a major element of your long-term incentive compensation, offering tremendous potential to accumulate personal wealth. Given your stock options' complexity, it’s essential to develop a strategy to realize their full potential.
Stock options aren't just for the folks on mahogany row any more. But turning stock options into the real green stuff takes some know-how. You need to know certain features of your grant to decide when to exercise your options and sell the stock.
Exercising stock options is like playing a hand of cards: if your plays are strategic, you'll probably "know when to hold them and when to fold them." But, as always, rules and regulations apply to what you can do.
Avoid the mistakes others made during prior ups and downs in the stock markets. Common errors arise in nine different situations, including job termination, mergers, financial planning, term expiration, and various life events.
Podcast included! Get a sense of what you should, and should not, expect in the terms of your stock option grant. A major survey of companies looks at trends in vesting schedules, post-termination exercise rules, and other plan features.
PowerPoint presentation (in PDF) that the editorial team of myStockOptions.com developed to provide a convenient crash course on the basics of incentive stock options. myStockOptions Pro members may request permission to use it for company employees or financial-planning clients.
You should know the answers to the questions in this FAQ's checklist and be familiar with the topics presented in the related video. Understanding these will help you make the most of your stock options and prevent costly mistakes...
Companies in the United States can grant two types of stock options: nonqualified stock options (NQSOs), the most common type, and incentive stock options (ISOs). The table in this FAQ summarizes and compares the major traits...
Apart from not needing to withhold for ISOs or pay Social Security and Medicare tax, employers derive no substantial benefit from granting ISOs instead of NQSOs. Plus, ISO taxation can be more complex for employees...
The tax code is very specific about what you must do. If you want all the appreciation over the exercise price to be taxed upon sale at favorable long-term capital gains rates, you must...
"Disqualifying disposition" is the legal term for selling, transferring, or exchanging ISO shares before satisfying the ISO holding-period requirements: two years from date of grant and one year from date of exercise. If you sell, transfer, gift, or short the stock too soon, you lose...
Companies make some information available voluntarily, while the reporting of other information is mandatory. Section 6039(a) of the Internal Revenue Code requires companies to send an information statement to employees who have exercised incentive stock options or have made purchases in a tax-qualified Section 423 employee stock purchase plan. ISO exercises are reported on IRS Form 3921. ESPP purchases are reported on IRS Form 3922...
The Internal Revenue Code and IRS regulations prohibit transfers, so grant agreements cannot allow ISOs to be transferred in divorce. When divorce occurs, under the property settlement either...
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.
Listen to our podcast on the basics of stock options, or watch our videos on core concepts and ISO taxes.
Test your knowledge with our 
