RSUs, ISOs, ESPPs & AMT.
Equity compensation is where tax planning earns its keep. We build models around your grants, run the AMT math, and time exercises and sales so the IRS doesn't take the upside.
Default withholding is a trap.
For most Utah tech employees and founders, equity is the single largest line item on the return, and the one the company's payroll system handles worst. Statutory 22% withholding on RSU vesting is short of the right number for almost every six-figure earner. ISO exercises don't trigger ordinary income, but they can quietly create a five- or six-figure AMT bill. ESPPs sit in a category of their own.
The fix isn't filing differently in April. It's planning before vest, before exercise, before sale.
Six scenarios, one playbook.
The names change every year (RSUs, ISOs, ESPPs, RSAs, NSOs, PSUs), but the work is the same: model the tax, plan the cash, file it cleanly.
RSUs that vested
Default 22% federal withholding rarely covers your real tax bill. We model the gap, recommend an estimated payment or supplemental sale, and time future vests around it.
ISOs you want to exercise
ISOs are powerful and treacherous. We model AMT exposure, find the largest exercise that stays under the AMT crossover, and plan the holding period for capital gains treatment.
ESPP shares to sell
Holding past the qualifying disposition window can save real money, or cost it, if your company stock drops. We map out both paths in dollars and after-tax dollars.
An 83(b) decision
Founders and early hires usually have 30 days to make a call worth six or seven figures later. We run the math and file it correctly the first time.
A liquidity event
Tender offers, secondaries, IPOs, acquisitions. We pre-plan withholding, estimated payments, QSBS qualification, and state allocation so April isn't a surprise.
A multi-state move
Vesting and exercising across state lines (Utah ↔ California ↔ Washington) creates allocation problems. We file the right resident and non-resident returns and credit you correctly.
Silicon Slopes, specifically.
Most equity-comp earners we work with are in Lehi, Draper, Provo, Salt Lake, or just moved here from California or Washington. Utah's flat-rate income tax and the AMT crossover combine in non-obvious ways. We've run the math enough times to know where the cliffs are.
If you're sitting on a vesting schedule, an unexercised grant, or an inbound move, the right time to talk is before any of it triggers, not at extension deadline.
Plan it before it triggers.
Bring your grant agreements, your last pay stub, and a screenshot of your equity portal. Thirty minutes is usually enough to map the next move.