Palantir (PLTR) RSU sell-vs-hold

Calculator · free · no signup · PLTR

Sell at vest or hold? Compare after-tax payout from selling Palantir 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 PLTR today.

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

Palantir (PLTR) is a public Data company, headquartered in Aventura, FL. IPO'd Sep 30, 2020.

Last close: $133.25 per share (as of 2026-06-17).

Equity grants at Palantir typically include incentive stock options (ISOs), non-qualified stock options (NSOs), and restricted stock units (RSUs).

Palantir Technologies Inc. is an American publicly traded company that develops data integration and analytics software. Palantir is headquartered in Miami, Florida, and was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, Alex Karp, and Nathan Gettings.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Palantir Technologies, founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings, builds data analytics platforms used across government and industry. Its Gotham product serves defense and intelligence customers, Foundry handles commercial operations, and AIP wires generative AI into enterprise workflows. The company went public via direct listing on the NYSE in September 2020 under ticker PLTR, relocated headquarters from Palo Alto to Denver that same year, and joined the S&P 500 on September 23, 2024. Fiscal 2024 revenue guidance reached roughly $2.75 billion.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · press.spglobal.com · cnbc.com

Equity comp at Palantir

  • 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 Palantir.

Palantir (PLTR) 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 Palantir (PLTR) RSUs vesting at $133.25 per share is $66,625 of ordinary income on vest day. After roughly 32% combined federal + state + FICA (~$21,320), the post-tax share value is ~$45,305. 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 Palantir tools → · Use the generic RSU Sell-vs-Hold Calculator for any company.

Palantir equity questions

Should I sell or hold my Palantir RSUs at vest?
Palantir 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 Palantir grant ISOs, NSOs, or RSUs?
Equity compensation at Palantir 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 Palantir RSUs use double-trigger vesting?
No. Palantir 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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