Death and... Taxes.

I believe they would be taxed as regular old w2 income of Their value on the day you receive them. If you hold the shares and sell a year later you can pay long term capital gains instead of short, but you are on the hook for their value right now when you get them either way.

Whatever the current valuation, public is easy to get, private a little harder but you should be able to ask, x the number of RSUs you are getting will be taxed as regular income since RSU are free and not like normal options if memory serves. You are taxed at their value on the day you receive them.

so 1000 shares at 1.00 share price = extra 1,000.00 on your W2. I don’t know what bracket you re in so you’ll have to do some math, but low end would be 25% high end closer to 40-50%(state + federal). so to be 100% safe you could sell to cover half and use that for taxes, but usually it’s a bit less than half and for normal people would tend to be around 33%.

edit: if you tell them you want to sell to cover they can help you a bit with the math too

Foler said:

I’m getting my next RSU vest next month. I’ve elected sell to cover. I’m trying to get a rough estimate of how much will actually be sold to cover. Any suggestions how?

Also, I think I missed the deadline with my employer to modify my tax withholding. I’d like to withhold as little as possible without incurring a penalty. I’m OK with a big federal tax bill versus lending the gov money interest free. I’m not OK for being penalized financially for withholding too little.

Any suggestions on how to calculate this? If I calculate it and my math adds up to be projected under withholding can I make a contribution myself pre-tax season to avoid penalty?

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There are estimated tax calculators you can use for this. If the money doesn't clear until Q3/4 you can probably also get away with saying that you have unevenly distributed income and they'll waive the underpayment penalty. I have a consulting business with very lumpy cash flows and I do this literally every year. I don't think I've ever paid a penalty.

As far as the amount to be sold, your company's HR/finance department should be able to tell you.