Browse topics
Qualified small business stock (QSBS, Section 1202)
Not a grant type, but a tax break that can apply to founder stock, early-exercised options, and angel investments. The up-to-100 percent federal capital gains exclusion, and the planning that has to start years early.
Rules & mechanics
How the grant actually works, step by step.
Taxation
What is taxed, and when, from grant to vest to exercise to sale.
QSBS (Section 1202): the complete guide
Qualified small business stock can erase the federal tax on a startup-stock sale, sometimes the whole thing. This is the full story: which rules apply to your shares, how the exclusion is sized, the holding clock, and the per-issuer cap that decides how much you actually shelter.
Does your state honor the QSBS exclusion
QSBS is a federal break, and states get a vote. California taxes the gain in full while New York generally follows the federal exclusion, so the same sale can split two ways.
Strategies
The decisions and frameworks that move the most money.
Pitfalls
The mistakes and surprises that cost people the most.
How people accidentally blow their QSBS
Most QSBS gets lost by accident, not by bad luck. A redemption, an early sale, the wrong entity, a secondary purchase, or missing records can quietly kill a break worth more than the mistake ever felt at the time.
QSBS and California
California ignores the QSBS exclusion entirely. A gain the IRS lets you exclude in full is taxed at up to 13.3 percent by California, and the only real fix is residency, set up years before you sell.
Forms & reporting
The tax forms, the reporting, and worked examples.
Case studies
Illustrative scenarios, start to finish.