RSU & ESPP Calculator
Equity compensation looks generous on paper — then taxes and vesting schedules take their cut. Enter your grant below to see what your RSUs are actually worth after tax, year by year, and what your ESPP discount really earns you.
RSU calculator
Your grant
After-tax value per vest
Vesting schedule
RSUs are taxed as ordinary income at vest — not at grant. Your employer withholds automatically, often at a flat 22% federal rate, so compare that against your actual marginal rate above.
ESPP calculator
Your plan
What this means
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The discount is a near-guaranteed return if you sell immediately — the gain is locked in at purchase. Holding the shares afterward just adds risk: your paycheck and your portfolio would both depend on the same company.
RSUs: free shares, with a tax bill attached
A Restricted Stock Unit (RSU) is a promise: your employer will give you actual shares of company stock on a schedule, usually over four years with a one-year "cliff." Nothing is taxed at grant — the tax event happens at vesting, when each batch of shares lands in your account. That day's market value counts as ordinary income, like a cash bonus, and your employer withholds taxes automatically — often by selling some of the vested shares to cover it.
The gotcha: employers typically withhold federal tax on RSU vests at a flat 22%, no matter your bracket. If your real marginal rate is 32% or 35%, you'll owe the difference when you file. That's why the calculator above uses your marginal rate rather than the withholding rate — it shows what you'll truly keep. (Not sure of your marginal rate? Our take-home pay calculator breaks down 2026 federal brackets.)
grosst = shares vesting × pricet · taxt = grosst × marginal rate · nett = grosst − taxt
ESPP: the closest thing to free money at work
An Employee Stock Purchase Plan lets you buy company stock through payroll deductions, usually at a 15% discount to the market price. Here's the math that makes it special: a 15% discount doesn't mean a 15% return — it means a 17.6% return. You pay $127.50 for $150 of stock, so your $12,000 of annual contributions instantly becomes $14,117.65: a $2,117.65 gain the moment shares are purchased. Few investments offer a near-guaranteed 17%+ return with a six-month holding period.
The catch is what happens after purchase. The standard advice from financial planners is to sell immediately and diversify: the discount is already banked, and every day you hold, you're making a concentrated bet on the same company that signs your paychecks. If you do hold, know the tax rules — selling within 2 years of the offering date (a "disqualifying disposition") taxes the discount as ordinary income; holding longer can qualify part of the gain for capital-gains rates, but you carry the risk while you wait.
The concentration question
RSUs and ESPP shares share one danger: double exposure. If your company stumbles, you could lose your job and watch your portfolio fall simultaneously. A common guideline is keeping total employer stock under 10–20% of your net worth. Vested RSUs are just shares — there's nothing disloyal about selling them and putting the proceeds to work elsewhere. Run the after-tax numbers above through our compound interest calculator to see what diversified investing does with them over the next decade.
Background reading: IRS guidance on restricted stock and RSUs (Topic 427) and Publication 525 on employee stock purchase plans; withholding rules under IRS supplemental wage guidance.