Plan your Epic Games NSO exercise
Calculator · free · no signup · pre-IPOEpic Games is pre-IPO. Plan your NSO exercise tax (federal, state, FICA) at any expected valuation.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Seeded from secondary-market data, as of Jun 16, 2026
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$934,566
Sell + invest wins by $751,784 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $1,781,700 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$25,835 |
| Additional Medicare | −$16,035 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $87,188 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$24,500 |
| Net at year 1 | $934,566 |
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 | $182,782 |
Sold 2,620 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,380 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 Epic Games
Epic Games is a privately held Gaming company, incorporated in Maryland and headquartered in Cary, NC.
Last reported secondary-market price: $366.34 per share (as of 2026-06-16). Your own 409A may differ.
Unreal Engine; Fortnite.
Equity grants at Epic Games typically include incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following its first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. After moving the headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio changed its name to Epic Games.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Tim Sweeney founded the company in 1991 as Potomac Computer Systems, renamed it Epic MegaGames, then settled on Epic Games and relocated to Cary, North Carolina. Fortnite anchors the business as both a battle royale and a creator-driven experiences platform, while Unreal Engine powers games, films, automotive design, and architectural visualization. The Epic Games Store distributes PC titles, and the 2019 Psyonix acquisition brought Rocket League in-house. Tencent holds roughly 40 percent. Judge Gonzalez Rogers found Apple willfully defied her 2021 injunction in April 2025, restoring Fortnite to the US App Store. Secondary markets price the company between 20 and 35 billion dollars after a Fortnite revenue rebound.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · sacra.com · en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at Epic Games
- Epic Games issues stock options (not RSUs) as the primary equity vehicle for employees, which is atypical for a company of its scale. Options are priced using an annual board-approved 409A valuation (an independent appraisal of fair market value per share, which sets the strike price employees pay to buy shares). Secondary sales require company approval and are managed through Nasdaq Private Market. During both the 2023 and 2026 layoff events, Epic offered affected employees accelerated vesting through a future date plus a two-year exercise-window extension.
Sources: epicgames.com · nasdaqprivatemarket.com
Researched 2026-05-10.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Epic Games.
Epic Games NSO exercise creates ordinary income on the bargain element (federal, state, and FICA) at the price on the day you exercise. The calculator works at any valuation, so you can model your exercise cost at the current 409A FMV, an expected IPO price, or post-IPO scenarios.
Example: at Epic Games's last reported price of $366.34, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $109.9 strike creates a $1,282,200 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $346,194 and $576,990 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 Epic Games tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Epic Games equity questions
- How is a Epic Games 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 Epic Games grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Epic Games grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Epic Games typically takes the form of incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs). Incentive stock options can trigger the alternative minimum tax (AMT) when you exercise.
- Are Epic Games shares eligible for QSBS?
- They might be. Qualified small business stock (QSBS) under Internal Revenue Code Section 1202 can exclude federal tax on much of the gain when shares were acquired at original issuance from a C-corporation while its gross assets were under $50 million, and held at least five years. Whether your Epic Games shares qualify turns on when you acquired them and the company's asset size at that time.
One piece of the puzzle.
OptionsAhoy plans your Epic Games equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.