Ex-Uber employees are being surprised by big tax bills

Post by paxys » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 12:35 AM UTC

psds2 wrote: post #10

paxys wrote: post #8

This story completely misses what the lawsuit is actually about. It isn't just a bunch of employees who are pissed that the stock went down. Employees' RSU agreements stated that Uber would deliver their shares 6 months post-IPO. A few days before the IPO Uber decided to amend the agreement and accelerate the vesting, so shares would be available on IPO day itself. Why did they do this? Uber is legally required to wi…

Thanks. The article initially read as if people had held their stock as if it was an investment and are mad they didn't sell to cover the tax bill sooner. After your explanation it is much clearer. tl;dr Uber accelerated vesting of employee grants so that they happened during the lockout period. Also they could have proactively taken more out to cover taxes for the employee but chose instead to take the minimum out.

Post by yumraj » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 12:42 AM UTC

user555555555 wrote: post #7

carlosdp wrote: post #4

This seems... spurious. Granting IPO stocks on IPO day is beneficial if the stock goes up, and "detrimental" if the stock goes down from the initial price instead, which is what happened with Uber. The article makes it look like Uber tried to short change employees, but if the stock had rocketed up, they would have saved employees a ton of money in taxes because the gain from IPO price to the price when the lock-up e…

Did anyone really think the stock was going to rocket up?

Post by dehrmann » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 1:43 AM UTC

user555555555 wrote: post #6

phamilton wrote: post #3

Lawsuit at https://uberrsuclaims.gallo.law

Is there any downside to joining that lawsuit if you qualify?

Post by dehrmann » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 2:38 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #16

dehrmann wrote: post #14

Suppose you're at Uber, got your shares on IPO date (May 9) and sold 6 months later (~Nov 9), wouldn't the tax shenanigans be a wash for you? You were taxed when they vested, so the new cost basis would be the IPO price, and you'd get to claim a loss when you sold? It's a little different if you held into 2020, though. Then you'd be on the hook for the higher taxes, but again, you should still be able to eventually c…

> You were taxed when they vested You were taxed the minimum amount (37%) when they vested, but likely need to pay a lot more than that yourself.

Post by scarface74 » Wed, Jul 15, 2020, 4:46 AM UTC

lacker wrote: post #2

You have to read to paragraph #17 before you get the information the story is really about. Uber delivered shares to its employees on the day of its IPO in May 2019, meaning employees would be taxed at the price of $45 a share. But the employees were restricted from selling their shares for six months, by which point the price had fallen to around $27 a share. This definitely sucks for the employees. But it isn't rea…