Plan your Impulse Space NSO exercise
Calculator · free · no signup · pre-IPOImpulse Space 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 9, 2026
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$167,549
Hold 1 yr wins by $6,586 over Sell + invest.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $280,750 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$4,071 |
| Additional Medicare | −$2,527 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $15,017 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$4,220 |
| Net at year 1 | $160,963 |
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
Best payout| Sale proceeds (year 1) | |
| LTCG tax (federal + state + NIIT) | −$6,794 |
| Net at year 1 | $167,549 |
Sold 2,730 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 2,270 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 Impulse Space
Impulse Space is a privately held Aerospace/Defense company, headquartered in Redondo Beach, CA.
Last reported secondary-market price: $66.15 per share (as of 2026-06-09). Your own 409A may differ.
In-space mobility.
Equity grants at Impulse Space typically include incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).
Impulse Space is an American startup founded in 2021 developing in-space transportation technology and services for satellites that fly to Low Earth Orbit but then need to reach other orbits.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Founded in 2021 by Tom Mueller (the SpaceX engineer behind the Merlin engine family), Impulse Space builds in-space mobility vehicles from a Redondo Beach, California base. Its Mira orbital transfer vehicle delivers payloads to precise orbits and flew its first mission, LEO Express-1, on SpaceX's Bandwagon-1 in November 2024. A larger Helios kick stage targets direct GEO, lunar, and Mars insertions starting in 2026. Backlog includes a $34.5M Space Force contract for the VICTUS SURGO and SALO tactically responsive missions. A $300M Series C in June 2025 brought total funding to roughly $525M.
Sources: impulsespace.com · en.wikipedia.org
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Impulse Space.
Impulse Space 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 Impulse Space's last reported price of $66.15, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $19.85 strike creates a $231,500 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $62,505 and $104,175 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 Impulse Space tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Impulse Space equity questions
- How is a Impulse Space 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 Impulse Space grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Impulse Space grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Impulse Space 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 Impulse Space 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 Impulse Space shares qualify turns on when you acquired them and the company's asset size at that time.
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