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Navigating IPOs and acquisitions

Navigating IPOs, acquisitions, and secondary markets can be difficult on your own. An experienced partner will help with IPO tax and financial planning with tax projections and multi-year exercise/sell strategies.

early employee tax planning with ISO grants, early exercise, and changing job

What you need to know

Key steps to consider, common mistakes, and services that can help make it all easier:

1. Document Inventory

The equity grant you signed years ago, the 83(b) Election you filed at a previous job, or timing of certain company and personal events can all significantly affect your tax bill.

 

2. Calculate tax credits

Equity events can have an impact not only on your current year’s taxes but in future years as you receive rollover credit or spread the realized gains out over several tax years.

 

3. Decide to Exercise, Sell or Forfeit

Depending on whether your shares have vested, the types of options or grants, and your tax bracket, there may be a few trigger points at which it makes more sense to exercise vs. sell vs. forfeit a certain number of shares.

 

4. IPO, SPAC, Acquisition, or Direct Listing?

Based on whether you are navigating an IPO, DPO, or acquisition, the specific terms around employee and founder liquidity, there are different restrictions and considerations for the lock-up period, the stability of the share price, and more.

Common Mistakes

  • Equity fair market value

    Inaccurate calculation of equity value

  • budgeting for taxes

    Under-budgeting for quarterly or annual taxes

  • concentrated risk

    Having too much concentrated investment risk in your portfolio

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Beta: sale scenarios

Project exercise & sale scenarios for IPOs

ISO equity sale scenario
BETA: balance sheet

See equity as part of your full financial picture

ipo sale graph