Affirm (AFRM) NSO Exercise Calculator
Calculator · free · no signup · AFRMPlan your Affirm NSO exercise (federal, state, FICA) and compare sell-vs-hold for long-term capital gains.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$199,080
Sell + invest wins by $20,783 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $350,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$5,075 |
| Additional Medicare | −$3,150 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $18,573 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$5,219 |
| Net at year 1 | $199,080 |
Sell every share immediately; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Exercise + hold 1 yr
| Sale proceeds (year 1) | |
| LTCG tax (federal + state + NIIT) | $0 |
| Net at year 1 | $178,297 |
Sold 2,678 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,322 shares held 1 yr for LTCG.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're exercising as a current employee.
Both columns are stated in year-1 dollars: sell-now proceeds compound at the market return and pay LTCG on the gain at year 1; any cash paid out of pocket on the hold side carries the same opportunity cost.
Net at year N — by hold period
Estimates only. Excludes AMT (NSOs do not trigger AMT), state-AMT, multi-state moves, and disqualifying-disposition edge cases. Not financial advice.
You calculated one NSO decision. The beta plans NSOs alongside RSUs and ISOs in a single multi-year tax plan.
Request beta access →About Affirm
Affirm (AFRM) is a public Fintech company, incorporated in Nevada and headquartered in San Francisco, CA. IPO'd Jan 13, 2021.
Last close: $74.69 per share (as of 2026-06-16).
Equity grants at Affirm typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
Affirm Holdings, Inc. is an American financial technology company and a point-of-sale lender. Founded in 2012 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, it is the largest U.S. based buy now, pay later (BNPL) financier. As of 2025, Affirm reports nearly 27 million users and processing $37 billion in annual payments.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Buy-now-pay-later financing without compounding interest or late fees is Affirm's core product proposition. Max Levchin, Nathan Gettings, Jeffrey Kaditz, and Alex Rampell founded Affirm in San Francisco in 2012 through the HVF startup studio; Levchin, a PayPal co-founder, became CEO in 2014. The company charges merchants a fee to offer installment options at checkout and earns interest income on longer-term loans, partnering with Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify. Affirm IPO'd on Nasdaq as AFRM in January 2021, with shares more than doubling on the first day of trading.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · news.crunchbase.com
Equity comp at Affirm
- RSUs use single-trigger vesting: shares become yours as each portion vests on schedule, and the value is taxed as ordinary income at that point. No IPO or acquisition is required.
Researched 2026-05-07.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Affirm.
Use this calculator to estimate your Affirm (AFRM) NSO exercise tax (federal, state, FICA), then compare selling now versus holding through the long-term capital gains threshold. Inputs are yours: grant terms, current price, your income, your state.
Example: at Affirm (AFRM)'s last close of $74.69, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $22.41 strike creates a $261,400 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $70,578 and $117,630 depending on your bracket and state. The calculator above computes the exact figure for your situation and compares selling now vs. holding through the long-term capital-gains threshold.
All Affirm tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Affirm equity questions
- How is a Affirm NSO exercise taxed?
- Exercising a non-qualified stock option (NSO) creates ordinary income on the bargain element (the price on the day you exercise minus your strike), subject to federal income tax, state income tax, and FICA. The calculator above computes that tax for your Affirm grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Affirm grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Affirm typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise. Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do Affirm RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. Affirm restricted stock units (RSUs) use single-trigger vesting: each tranche becomes yours as it vests on schedule, taxed as ordinary income at that point, with no liquidity event required.
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your Affirm equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.