Stock options can be complex and costly if you don’t properly plan for taxes. Two common forms of non-cash employee incentives are Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Non-qualified Stock Options (NSOs). With tax reform on the horizon, hopefully this post will help you make a more informed decision about the opportunities that exist before the end of the year.
Incentive stock options: ISO’s are qualified stock options granted to an employee that allow the employee to buy stock or ownership in the employer at a specified price. Many ISO grants have vesting schedules that need to be met as a condition of receiving the options. With ISOs, there are no regular income tax consequences when granted or exercised. A taxable event does, however, occur if/when the employee sells the stock at a gain.
An ISO has certain requirements that must be met. For example, the option price cannot be less than the market value of the stock at the time of the grant, it must be exercised within ten years from the time of grant, and the market value of the stock for any ISOs exercisable in any year is limited to $100,000.
To avoid disqualified dispositions and lock in favorable capital gain treatment, ISO’s generally can’t be disposed of within two years after the option is granted or one year after the stock is transferred to the employee.
If there is a disqualifying disposition of a share of stock, you would recognize ordinary compensation income equal to the “bargain element”. This bargain element is the fair market value (FMV) of the stock on the date of sale less the exercise price.
For Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) purposes, when an ISO is exercised, assuming the stock is fully vested on the exercise date, the amount of the bargain element is included as an adjustment for alternative minimum taxable income. If the stock is not substantially vested in the year of exercise (still subject to forfeiture), income is includible under the Code Sec. 83 rules for AMT purposes. In future years, a tax credit may be allowed against regular tax for AMT paid on account of the adjustment for ISO exercises.
Nonqualified stock options: NSOs, are taxable similar to an employee receiving compensation income equal to the FMV of the option. If a NSO isn’t tradeable and has no “ascertainable market value”, a taxable event would occur when stock is received upon exercise of the options rather than at the time of option receipt. The taxable amount would be the “bargain element”, the difference between the stock’s market price on the date of option exercise, less the exercise price under the option.
Launch Consulting Insight: NSOs pose a more difficult dilemma with year-end planning. If you have NSOs, you may want to consider waiting to exercise until 2018 if you believe tax reform will be enacted and lower tax rates will apply in 2018. I would recommend factoring in market conditions, since an increase in the stock value over the waiting period could increase the amount of income subject to taxation. Alternatively, if the bargain element now is small, and you think it could increase by next year, you may want to consider exercising in 2017 to minimize the amount of ordinary income recognized on your bargain element.