Costco (COST) RSU sell-vs-hold

Calculator · free · no signup · COST

Sell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling Costco RSUs at vest vs. holding through the LTCG cliff at 12 months.

Beta · invite-only · AlphaLatitude Inc. · Free Tools

Your vest

pre-IPO? enter price manually

Tax inputs

Hold strategy

1 yr
20%
20%
10.0%

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.

This vest pushes your top federal rate from 24% to 35%. Hover the Federal value below for the bracket-by-bracket slicing.

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 COST today.

Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in COST. 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.

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Related calculators: RSU Lot Order Calculator · Stock Concentration Calculator

About Costco

Costco (COST) is a public Other company, incorporated in Washington and headquartered in Issaquah, WA.

Equity grants at Costco typically include restricted stock units (RSUs).

Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation that operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2025, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, the world's largest retailer of beef, poultry, organic produce, and wine, with just under a third of American consumers regularly shopping at Costco warehouses. As of 2026, Costco is ranked 12th on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue, and is also ranked as the largest grocery retailer in Canada.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Jim Sinegal and Jeff Brotman opened the first Costco warehouse in Seattle in 1983, and the company merged with Price Club, the format's originator, in 1993. The economics are unusual: gross margin on goods is held deliberately low, roughly eleven percent, and membership fees supply the majority of operating profit, which aligns the company with members rather than suppliers. Kirkland Signature private label carries a large share of sales. Employee pay and retention run well above retail norms. Headquarters are in Issaquah, Washington.

Sources: costco.com · en.wikipedia.org

Equity comp at Costco

  • 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 Costco.

Costco (COST) 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 Costco tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company. Diversifying multiple RSU lots? See the lot-by-lot sell order →

Costco equity questions

Should I sell or hold my Costco RSUs at vest?
Costco 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 Costco grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
Equity compensation at Costco typically takes the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
Do Costco RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
No. Costco 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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