Instacart (Maplebear) (CART) NSO Exercise Calculator
Calculator · free · no signup · CARTPlan your Instacart (Maplebear) 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 Instacart (Maplebear)
Instacart (Maplebear) (CART) is a public Marketplace company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Francisco, CA. IPO'd Sep 19, 2023.
Last close: $44.21 per share (as of 2026-06-16).
Equity grants at Instacart (Maplebear) typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart, is an American retail media and delivery company based in San Francisco that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada accessible via a website and mobile app. It allows customers to order groceries from participating retailers with the shopping being done by a personal shopper, who picks, packs, and delivers the order, while also providing alcohol delivery in regions where it is permitted.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
In 2012, Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen, and Brandon Leonardo launched Instacart in San Francisco to fulfill grocery orders from local stores for same-day home delivery, compensating gig shoppers rather than owning warehouse inventory. The company built an advertising business on top of the fulfillment network, selling sponsored placements to consumer packaged goods brands alongside its logistics service. At its 2021 peak Instacart was valued at $39 billion. It went public on Nasdaq as CART in September 2023 at roughly a $10 billion valuation and reported $457 million in net income in 2024.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · stockanalysis.com
Equity comp at Instacart (Maplebear)
- 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 Instacart (Maplebear).
Use this calculator to estimate your Instacart (Maplebear) (CART) 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 Instacart (Maplebear) (CART)'s last close of $44.21, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $13.26 strike creates a $154,750 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $41,783 and $69,638 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 Instacart (Maplebear) tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Instacart (Maplebear) equity questions
- How is a Instacart (Maplebear) 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 Instacart (Maplebear) grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Instacart (Maplebear) grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Instacart (Maplebear) 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 Instacart (Maplebear) RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. Instacart (Maplebear) 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 Instacart (Maplebear) equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.