Rocket Lab (RKLB) Post-Termination ISO Calculator
Calculator · free · no signup · RKLBLeft Rocket Lab with vested ISOs? Most plans give you 90 days to exercise or forfeit. See your deadline, the AMT cost of exercising, and the share count that maximizes after-tax value.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your grant
Tax inputs
Grant timeline
Recommended exercise quantity
Exercise all 10,000
With 10%/yr expected growth over the 3-yr hold, every share's expected after-tax gain exceeds its marginal AMT cost. Net value: $171,946 at horizon.
Net after-tax value vs. shares exercised
Each point is the expected after-tax NPV at your hold horizon if you exercise that many shares now and let the rest expire.
Year-by-year tax breakdown
You pay the higher of Regular tax and Tentative AMT per jurisdiction, then subtract Credit recovered. The result is Net tax. Hover any number for the bracket-by-bracket breakdown.
| 1 | 10,000 | |||
| 2 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 0 |
Federal AMT credit
Earned
$134,654
Recovered
$29,764
Remaining
$104,890
The AMT credit only recovers in years where regular tax exceeds AMT — typically a year with no ISO exercise. It carries forward indefinitely (Form 8801) and applies in any future tax year where regular tax exceeds AMT.
Estimates only. Excludes disqualifying dispositions, NSOs, multi-state moves, and AMT preferences other than ISO bargain elements. Long-term capital gains tax assumes a qualifying disposition (ISO held ≥1 yr from exercise and ≥2 yr from grant); state LTCG follows ordinary brackets except where the state grants preferential treatment (HI, ND, SC, WI, AR, NM) or has a dedicated LTCG-only tax (WA). Assumes you are within the $100K ISO limit (any portion of an annual ISO grant whose FMV at grant exceeds $100K is treated as NSO from the start, §422(d)). State AMT figures are 2025 (next-year values published in late 2026). Not financial advice.
QSBS note. If your shares qualify (typically pre-IPO C-corp grants held 5+ years), a federal rule lets you exclude up to $10M of gain on a future sale from federal tax. That single rule shifts exercise-timing math more than AMT does. (This is §1202 “qualified small-business stock”.) Modeled in beta, not here.
You solved the exercise window. The beta plans what comes after it: the new shares, your remaining equity, hedges, and taxes in one multi-year plan.
Request beta access →About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab (RKLB) is a public Aerospace/Defense company, headquartered in Long Beach, CA. IPO'd Aug 25, 2021.
Last close: $114.78 per share (as of 2026-06-12).
Equity grants at Rocket Lab typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).
Rocket Lab Corporation is a publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider. Its Electron orbital rocket launches small satellites and has successfully completed over 75 missions as of January 2026, making it the most prolific small-lift launch vehicle in operation globally. A suborbital variant of Electron, called HASTE, was developed as a testbed to advance hypersonic technology development, while the next-generation reusable Neutron medium-lift launch vehicle is in development to support constellation deployment, interplanetary missions, and human spaceflight. The company is a supplier of satellite components such as star trackers, reaction wheels, solar panels, electric propulsion systems, software-defined radios, composite structures, separation systems, and electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors, as well as flight and ground software. The company also manufactures satellite buses and complete spacecraft as part of its strategic vision to become a vertically integrated, end-to-end space company.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Electron, the small-lift orbital rocket that put Rocket Lab on the map, has flown 87 missions as of May 2026 from launch sites at Mahia Peninsula (New Zealand) and Wallops Island (Virginia). Founder Peter Beck started the company in New Zealand in 2006 and later relocated headquarters to Long Beach, California. Rocket Lab went public on Nasdaq under ticker RKLB in August 2021 via a SPAC merger with Vector Acquisition Corp. The company also operates the Photon spacecraft platform and is preparing Neutron, a medium-lift reusable rocket, for a late-2026 debut from Wallops.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · cnbc.com · nasaspaceflight.com
Equity comp at Rocket Lab
- 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 Rocket Lab.
If you have left Rocket Lab (RKLB) with vested incentive stock options (ISOs), most stock plans give you 90 days from your departure date to exercise or forfeit them. Exercising everything at once concentrates the AMT bargain element into a single tax year. This calculator computes your window deadline from your departure date, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) cost of a full exercise at the current trading price, and the partial-exercise share count that maximizes expected after-tax value.
Example: leaving Rocket Lab (RKLB) with 5,000 vested ISOs at a $34.43 strike, with the last close at $114.78, exercising all of them inside the 90-day window puts a $401,750 bargain element into one tax year. Above the 2026 federal AMT exemption ($88,100 single, $137,000 married joint), the 28% AMT rate adds roughly $112,490 on top of regular tax before any state AMT (CA, CO, CT, MN). Exercising fewer shares lowers that bill at the cost of forfeiting the rest; the calculator above finds the count that maximizes expected after-tax value for your exact figures.
All Rocket Lab tools → · Use the generic Post-Termination ISO Exercise Calculator for any company.
Rocket Lab equity questions
- I left Rocket Lab. How long do I have to exercise my ISOs?
- Most stock plans give you 90 days from your departure date to exercise vested incentive stock options (ISOs); unexercised options are forfeited when the window closes. Tax law is slightly wider: ISO treatment requires you to have been an employee within 3 months of exercise (Internal Revenue Code Section 422(a)(2)), so options exercised under an employer-extended window are taxed as non-qualified stock options (NSOs). Check your grant agreement for Rocket Lab's exact terms. The calculator above computes your deadline from your departure date, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) cost of exercising, and the share count that maximizes after-tax value.
- Does Rocket Lab grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Rocket Lab 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 Rocket Lab RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. Rocket Lab 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.
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