Interactive Brokers (IBKR) RSU sell-vs-hold
Calculator · free · no signup · IBKRSell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling Interactive Brokers 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 IBKR today.
Most diversification frameworks would advise against a purchase that size in a single name; the right answer depends on your conviction in IBKR. 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 Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a public Fintech company, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Greenwich, CT.
Last close: $90.56 per share (as of 2026-08-19).
Equity grants at Interactive Brokers typically include restricted stock units (RSUs).
Interactive Brokers, Inc. is an American multinational brokerage firm headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. It operates one of the largest electronic trading platforms in the United States by number of daily average revenue trades. Interactive Brokers is the largest foreign exchange market broker and one of the largest prime brokers servicing commodity brokers.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Thomas Peterffy, who helped bring computerized pricing to options floors in the 1970s, built the firm into an electronic broker serving professional traders, hedge funds, and self-directed investors across dozens of markets. Automation is the competitive position: the cost to serve an account is low enough to support pricing that full-service brokers cannot match. Margin lending and interest on customer cash produce a large share of profit, making results rate-sensitive. Account growth has come substantially from outside the United States. Headquarters are in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Sources: sec.gov · en.wikipedia.org
OptionsAhoy is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Interactive Brokers.
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) 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.
Example: 500 Interactive Brokers (IBKR) RSUs vesting at $90.56 per share is $45,280 of ordinary income on vest day. After roughly 32% combined federal + state + FICA (~$14,490), the post-tax share value is ~$30,790. Holding 12 months for long-term capital-gains treatment then only matters for the price change between vest and sale; the ordinary income at vest is already locked in. The calculator runs both paths through the same after-tax math.
All Interactive Brokers tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company. Diversifying multiple RSU lots? See the lot-by-lot sell order →
Interactive Brokers equity questions
- Should I sell or hold my Interactive Brokers RSUs at vest?
- Interactive Brokers 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 Interactive Brokers grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
- Equity compensation at Interactive Brokers typically takes the form of restricted stock units (RSUs). Restricted stock units are taxed as ordinary income when they vest.
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