What New York residents actually pay
New York taxes ordinary income at a top marginal rate of 10.9%. RSU settlement value, NSO exercise spread, and ESPP discount income all count as ordinary wages for this purpose and flow through the state's normal brackets.
NYC residents pay an additional ~3.9% city tax. Trailing nexus rules aggressively tax post-move equity.
Ordinary income at exercise
NSO spread (FMV minus strike at exercise, times shares) is ordinary wage income in the year of exercise. New York taxes it at up to 10.9%, stacked on your base wages. Federal supplemental withholding applies at 22% (or 37%), just like RSUs.
Cash outlay vs tax
NSO exercise requires cash for the strike price plus tax withholding. Cashless exercise (same-day sell) nets out the cash requirement but converts the full spread to ordinary income in the exercise year. Early exercise with 83(b) is available on pre-vesting NSOs at some companies; it starts the long-term capital gain clock on the full share value going forward.
Interaction with later sales
After exercise, your basis equals strike plus spread (the amount taxed as ordinary). Further price appreciation is capital gain on sale, split long-term vs short-term at the one-year mark. For New York residents, this is where the state savings from holding (limited, since New York taxes LTCG as ordinary) matter most.
Frequently asked
- Does New York tax RSU income the same as wages?
- Yes. New York treats RSU ordinary income as wages, taxable at the state's top marginal rate of 10.9%. Supplemental-wage federal withholding (22%, or 37% above $1M YTD) does not adjust for state withholding, so you often owe extra at filing.
- What happens if I exercise ISOs while living in New York?
- New York does not run a separate state AMT, so only federal AMT applies. You still need to model the bargain element carefully if you plan a cashless exercise-and-sell.
- I moved to New York from another state. Who taxes my vesting RSUs?
- Most high-tax states (CA, NY, MA) source RSU ordinary income to workdays between grant and vest. If your grant pre-dates your New York move, expect the old state to tax the portion of each tranche attributable to workdays earned there. New York taxes the remainder.
- Can I reduce New York taxes by timing my RSU sales?
- New York taxes long-term capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income, so timing alone does not produce a state savings — only federal. Holding for 12 months still halves the federal rate on gains above basis.
Related
- RSU taxes — New York
- ISO exercises and AMT — New York
- Capital gains tax — New York
- QSBS — New York
- Moving to or from New York with unvested equity: trailing nexus rules — New York
- RSU vesting schedules — New York
- ESPP taxation — New York
- 401(k) and retirement accounts — New York
- Leaving New York: how to cleanly break residency before a liquidity event — New York
- New York equity-comp overview