Nonstatutory stock options tax treatment

You report NQSO income differently than you report income from these:.

Statutory Stock Options | Rochester, NYC, Buffalo, Syracuse NY

However, the option might have a readily determinable market value. Options traded in an open market have market values that are easily determined. Your employer will include that amount on your W-2, Box 1. The difference between the option price and the FMV when you exercised your option is included in your W-2 income.


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  • When and how are nonqualified stock options taxed? - .

The basis of the stock is the FMV of the stock on the date you exercised the options. Depending upon the tax treatment of stock options, they can be classified into qualified and non-qualified stock options. And to receive preferential capital gain treatment, option holders must retain the stock at least two years after receiving the option and one year after exercising it. Gain from non-qualified stock options NQSO is considered ordinary income and therefore taxed at a higher rate. NQSOs may have higher taxes but they also afford a lot more flexibility in terms of whom they can be granted to and how they may be exercised.

How Stock Options Are Taxed & Reported

Companies typically prefer to grant non-qualified stock options because they can deduct the cost incurred for NQSOs as an operating expense sooner. They may be transferable. If the stock is disposed of at a higher price than the value of the stock at the time the option is exercised, the amount between the option price and the value at the time of exercise is treated as ordinary income.

The difference between the disposition price and the value at the time of exercise is taxed as capital gain. In this situation, the corporation granting the option receives a corresponding business expense deduction equal to the executive's ordinary income.

Sunk by Options

Using a stock option may be a more effective way to provide retirement compensation than an annuity. Unlike a well-drafted stock option, an annuity purchased for an employee may be completely taxable to the employee in the year it is purchased. Nonstatutory or nonqualified stock options.

Practice Areas

Unlike statutory stock options, nonqualified stock options do not qualify for favorable tax treatment under the tax code. Under a nonqualified stock option arrangement, an employee may be taxed when:. The tax treatment of the option also depends on whether the option has a readily ascertainable fair market value when granted to the employee. If the option has a readily ascertainable value, the employee realizes taxable income when:.


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  4. If the value of the option is not readily ascertainable at the time it is granted, taxation occurs when the option is exercised or otherwise disposed of. This is the case even if the fair market value may have been ascertainable before that time.