Case Scenario:
Two years ago, Micro Corporation granted its employee, Alisa, 20,000 incentive stock options with an exercise price of $15 per share. The stock is currently trading at $40 per share, but Alisa expects that it will continue to increase. She wants to exercise her options this year and can either exercise them now or wait until later in the year when she believes the stock will be trading at $55 per share. Regardless of when she exercises the options, she expects to hold onto the stock for at least a year before selling it at an expected price of $100 per share. Alisa wants to know if it makes any difference when she exercises the options. She also wants to know what the tax implications will be when she sells the stock.