Plan your Retool NSO exercise

Calculator · free · no signup · pre-IPO

Retool 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 6, 2026

Tax inputs

Hold strategy

1 yr
20%
20%
10.0%
Pre-IPO assumption: Expected sale price assumes a liquid market at year N. In reality, pre-IPO shares clear via tender offers (priced at a discount to the 409A or last preferred round, on the company's calendar) or at IPO (subject to lockups). Use the haircut to reflect that uncertainty.

No bargain element. Current price is at or below the strike — no tax owed at exercise. Wait for the stock to appreciate past the strike before exercising.

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.

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About Retool

Retool is a privately held Dev Tools company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

Last reported secondary-market price: $1.51 per share (as of 2026-06-06). Your own 409A may differ.

Internal tools platform.

Equity grants at Retool typically include incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs).

David Hsu founded Retool in 2017 out of Y Combinator after noticing that building internal dashboards, admin panels, and CRUD tools consumed a disproportionate share of engineering time at every company he encountered. Retool provides a drag-and-drop builder that connects to databases, APIs, and third-party services, letting teams ship internal software in hours rather than weeks. Customers include Amazon, Airbnb, and the US Army. The company raised a $45 million Series C in July 2022 at a $3.2 billion valuation, bringing total funding to $165 million.

Sources: retool.com · sacra.com

OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Retool.

Retool 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 Retool's last reported price of $1.51, exercising 5,000 NSOs with a $1 strike creates a $2,550 bargain element, taxed as ordinary income on the day you exercise. Combined federal + state + FICA on that bargain typically lands between $689 and $1,148 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 Retool tools → · Use the generic NSO Exercise Calculator for any company.

Retool equity questions

How is a Retool 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 Retool grant and compares selling the shares now against holding past the one-year mark for long-term capital-gains treatment.
Does Retool grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
Equity compensation at Retool 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 Retool 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 Retool shares qualify turns on when you acquired them and the company's asset size at that time.
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