AT&T (T) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · TSell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling AT&T RSUs at vest vs. holding through the LTCG cliff at 12 months.
Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools
Your vest
Tax inputs
Hold strategy
Best after-tax payout — at year 1 yr
$47,709
Sell + invest wins by $4,981 over Hold 1 yr.
Estimates only. Not financial advice.
Heads-up: under-withholding. Your employer withholds federal tax at the IRS supplemental rate (22.0% on this vest, ≈ $17,600). Your marginal federal rate on this vest is 32.7%, owing $26,171. Expect to settle the $8,571 gap at tax time.
The hidden purchase
Tax was paid at vest either way. Holding is mathematically equivalent to taking $44,509 in after-tax cash and buying $44,509 of T today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in T. Holding past one year converts the gain to LTCG.
Sell + invest
Best payout| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Federal | |
| State | |
| Medicare | −$1,160 |
| Additional Medicare | −$720 |
| Market gain over 1 yr at 10.0% | $4,451 |
| Cap-gain tax on diversified gain — LTCG (federal + state + NIIT) | −$1,251 |
| Net at year 1 yr | $47,709 |
Sell every share at vest; invest the after-tax cash at the market return for 1 yr, then liquidate. Diversified — no single-stock concentration risk.
Hold 1 yr
| Vest value (shares × price) | $80,000 |
| Vest tax (federal + state + FICA) | |
| Net at year 1 yr | $42,728 |
Sold 444 shares to cover vest tax (net-settled); kept 556 shares 1 yr to qualify for long-term capital gains.
Social Security + Medicare are payroll taxes (collectively called FICA) — they apply because you're still employed at vest.
Both columns are stated in year-1 yr dollars. The sell side compounds at the market return; the hold side compounds at your single-stock expected return after a 20% volatility drag.
Estimates only. Assumes net-settled (sell-to-cover) vesting; double-trigger and pre-IPO RSUs are out of scope. Excludes multi-state moves, AMT interactions on other equity, and 83(b) elections. Not financial advice.
You evaluated one RSU vest. The beta plans every vest of every grant across years, with concentration and AMT in the loop.
Request beta access →Related calculators: RSU Lot Order Calculator · Stock Concentration Calculator
About AT&T
AT&T (T) is a public Consumer Internet company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Dallas, TX.
Equity grants at AT&T typically include restricted stock units (RSUs).
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation of its predecessor's original name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications company headquartered at the Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. AT&T is the world's third-largest telecommunications company by revenue, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States behind T-Mobile and Verizon, and the nation's largest fiber internet provider. On the New York Stock Exchange, AT&T trades under the ticker symbol "T", and has a market capitalization of $186.83 billion. On the Fortune 500 (2025), AT&T ranked 37th among the largest American businesses and reported revenues of $125.6 billion.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The name traces to Alexander Graham Bell's 1885 company, which the government broke up in 1984; the modern entity descends from Southwestern Bell, which reassembled much of the system and adopted the AT&T name in 2005. Two large media bets, DirecTV in 2015 and Time Warner in 2018, were both unwound by 2022 at substantial cost. What remains is a wireless carrier and fiber broadband builder, with the Warner spinoff creating Warner Bros. Discovery. Headquarters are in Dallas.
Sources: about.att.com · en.wikipedia.org
Equity comp at AT&T
- 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 2026-08-17.
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AT&T.
AT&T (T) RSUs vest as ordinary income at the price on vest day. The decision is whether to sell at vest and reinvest, or hold the shares through the 12-month LTCG cliff. This calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare like-for-like.
All AT&T tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company. Diversifying multiple RSU lots? See the lot-by-lot sell order →
AT&T equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my AT&T RSUs at vest?
- AT&T restricted stock units (RSUs) are taxed as ordinary income on their value at vest whether or not you sell. The only open decision is what to do with the shares afterward: sell at vest and reinvest, or hold past twelve months for long-term capital-gains treatment on any further gain. The calculator above runs both paths through the same after-tax math so you can compare them directly.
- Does AT&T grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at AT&T typically takes the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
- Do AT&T RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
- No. AT&T 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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