RSU Vesting & Tax Calculator
See what a vesting event adds to your taxes, whether your employer's withholding covers it, and how the timing of a sale changes what you keep.
What happens at vesting
The full value of vested shares is taxed as ordinary income — whether you sell or hold
Value at vesting
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Added to your W-2 as ordinary income
Estimated federal tax at your rate
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At your selected marginal rate
Typically withheld by your employer
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At the flat supplemental rate
Estimated gap you may owe at filing
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If shares are withheld to cover taxes
Many employers automatically sell enough shares to cover withholding — and it's usually more than just federal income tax
Shares withheld to cover (est.)
Net shares deposited to your account
What you actually receive at vesting
The share counts here use a broader withholding estimate than the federal-only figures above, because that's closer to what actually leaves your account at vesting. 7.65% is the standard combined Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) rate; it typically drops to about 1.45% once your year-to-date wages pass the Social Security wage base, and rises by an additional 0.9% on Medicare wages above roughly $200,000 in a year. State withholding varies by state (several states have none) — check a recent pay stub for your actual rate if you're unsure. Share counts are rounded up to the nearest whole share, so actual cash withheld may differ slightly.
If you sell
The tax at vesting is the same in every case — only the tax on what happens after vesting changes
| Sell at vesting | Sell within 1 year | Sell after 1+ year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shares sold in this scenario | |||
| Sale price per share | |||
| Sale proceeds | |||
| Capital gain or loss after vesting | |||
| How that gain is taxed | |||
| Federal tax at vesting (est., at your rate above) | |||
| Estimated tax on the gain | |||
| Total estimated federal tax | |||
| Estimated net after federal tax |
Tax matters, but diversification is key to managing risk
Getting the tax timing right is worth doing well — but it's only one piece of the picture. Holding vested shares keeps your net worth concentrated in a single company, on top of the paycheck, bonus, and career risk you already carry there. Diversifying out of concentrated stock positions is one of the most effective ways to manage that risk. This tool only models the tax side — how much company stock makes sense to hold, and what to do with the proceeds, are separate questions worth their own conversation.
Assumptions used
All rates are flat, single-bracket estimates selected from the dropdowns — the tool does not model bracket-stacking (a large vest can push part of your income into a higher bracket), the additional Medicare tax, the net investment income tax, or state and local income tax. The federal tax reconciliation figures (estimated tax, employer withholding, and the gap) reflect the federal flat supplemental withholding rate you select (22% is typical; 37% applies to supplemental wages above $1 million in a year) applied to the full vest value, and do not include payroll taxes. The shares-withheld-to-cover estimate is calculated separately: it applies your selected federal rate plus the FICA and state withholding percentages you enter to the full vest value, then converts that combined dollar figure to a share count at the vest-date price, rounded up. It assumes net share settlement (shares sold on your behalf to cover withholding); if your employer instead withholds cash from payroll, this estimate will not reflect your actual share count. In the "If you sell" table, the "Model selling" toggle determines whether the capital gain and proceeds are calculated on the net shares remaining after withholding (default) or on all vested shares as if none were withheld; the federal tax at vesting is shown as a separate line only in the all-vested-shares view, since in the net-shares view it's already accounted for by the withheld shares. "Sell at vesting" assumes a sale at the vest-date price with no gain; the two holding scenarios use your modeled future sale price and differ only in whether the post-vesting gain is short-term (taxed at your ordinary rate) or long-term (taxed at your selected capital gains rate), using the more-than-one-year boundary. A sale price below the vest-date price produces a capital loss, shown in red; the tool does not model any tax benefit from losses (capital loss limits, wash-sale rules). Estimated figures are directional, not projections.
Want to see how your vesting schedule fits your full picture?