Plan your Linear NSO exercise
Calculator · free · no signup · pre-IPOLinear 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 14, 2026
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1
$121,322
Hold 1 yr wins by $56,601 over Sell + invest.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Sell + invest
| Bargain element (sale − strike) | $109,750 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,591 |
| Additional Medicare | −$988 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $6,038 |
| LTCG on diversified gain (fed + state + NIIT) | −$1,697 |
| Net at year 1 | $64,722 |
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) | −$23,817 |
| Net at year 1 | $121,322 |
Sold 3,110 shares at exercise to cover strike + tax; 1,890 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 Linear
Linear is a privately held Dev Tools company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
Last reported secondary-market price: $31.95 per share (as of 2026-06-14). Your own 409A may differ.
Project tracking.
Equity grants at Linear typically include incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).
Linear is a project management and issue tracker for software teams built around speed: keyboard-first workflows, real-time sync, and interfaces fast enough to match how engineers and designers actually work rather than how project managers document it. Karri Saarinen, formerly the design lead at Airbnb and Coinbase, co-founded Linear in 2019 alongside Tuomas Artman and Jori Lallo. The company has been profitable since launch, serves more than 14,000 customers including OpenAI, Brex, and Scale AI, and reached a $1.25 billion valuation in June 2025 on $134 million in total funding.
Sources: linear.app · review.firstround.com
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Linear.
Linear 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 Linear's last reported price of $31.95, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $9.59 strike creates a $111,800 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $30,186 and $50,310 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 Linear tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Linear equity questions
- How is a Linear 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 Linear grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
- Does Linear grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Linear 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 Linear 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 Linear 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 Linear equity alongside hedging, vesting, and de-concentration, across bullish, neutral, and bearish market scenarios. Free during beta.