AE Tax Advisors

I am a VP at a public tech company with a compensation package heavily weighted toward RSUs and ISOs. Every tax season was a nightmare because my old CPA did not understand equity compensation. He would just report whatever my brokerage sent on the 1099 and hope for the best. The AMT exposure alone from poorly timed ISO exercises cost me tens of thousands.

AE Tax Advisors created a comprehensive equity compensation strategy that coordinates the timing of RSU vesting, ISO exercises, and stock sales across tax years. For RSUs, they showed me how to manage my tax withholding so I am not over-withholding or facing an underpayment penalty. For ISOs, they modeled different exercise scenarios to optimize the trade-off between capital gains rates and AMT exposure.

They also coordinated stock sales with my capital gains and losses from other investments, implementing tax-loss harvesting where appropriate. The net effect was a dramatically more efficient realization of my equity compensation.

Over two tax years, the total savings came to $156,000. That includes AMT credits recovered from prior years that my old CPA had lost track of.

What sets AE Tax apart in this area is their genuine understanding of equity comp. They know the difference between ISOs and NSOs, understand 83(b) elections, and can model the tax impact of different vesting schedules. Most CPAs treat stock compensation as an afterthought. AE Tax treats it as a core part of my tax plan.

For any tech executive or employee with significant equity compensation, AE Tax Advisors is the team you want managing the tax implications. The savings are substantial.