C3.ai (AI) NSO Exercise Calculator
Calculator · free · no signup · AIPlan your C3.ai 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 C3.ai
C3.ai (AI) is a public AI company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Redwood City, CA. IPO'd Dec 9, 2020.
Last close: $10.93 per share (as of 2026-06-16).
Equity grants at C3.ai typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
C3.ai is an American information technology company specializing in enterprise artificial intelligence. Based in Redwood City, California, the company was founded in 2009 by Thomas Siebel and became a public company in 2020 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Tom Siebel founded C3.ai in 2009, and the Redwood City, California company sells an enterprise AI platform plus a library of pre-built applications for predictive maintenance, supply network risk, and production optimization. C3.ai listed on the NYSE under the ticker AI on December 9, 2020, pricing 15.5 million shares at $42 and raising roughly $651 million in gross proceeds. Customers span oil and gas (Shell, Occidental, Baker Hughes partnership), defense and intelligence (U.S. Air Force, Department of Defense work), and manufacturing (Koch Industries), with more than 40 turnkey applications offered across regulated industries.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · businesswire.com · c3.ai · c3.ai
Equity comp at C3.ai
- 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 C3.ai.
Use this calculator to estimate your C3.ai (AI) 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 C3.ai (AI)'s last close of $10.93, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $3.28 strike creates a $38,250 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $10,328 and $17,213 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 C3.ai tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
C3.ai equity questions
- How is a C3.ai 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 C3.ai grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does C3.ai grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at C3.ai 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 C3.ai RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. C3.ai 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 C3.ai equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.