Updated Tax Return Content On myStockOptions.com Can Help Avoid Costly Errors and IRS Attention

Brookline, MA (PRWEB) March 9, 2009

For people with stock compensation (and their advisors), every tax season raises worries about making errors on tax returns that can lead to paying too much tax, penalties from the IRS, or even the ordeal of an IRS audit. As belts tighten during the current economic downturn, the need to avoid expensive mistakes with tax returns has never been stronger.

The clear, concise, and easy-to-read content at myStockOptions.com (http://www.mystockoptions.com) can help. The website has all the answers on the filing and reporting of tax returns that involve stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, stock appreciation rights, and employee stock purchase plans. Core articles and FAQs spell out the most common mistakes people make with stock grants on their tax returns. Taxpayers and their advisors can quickly run through these to be sure they submit error-free returns. Annotated examples of Schedule D show exactly how to report sales of company stock.

More Than Just The Basics

The content on tax topics covers more than just the nuts and bolts of reporting and filing. The website's award-winning content covers the full range of tax topics that stock grant holders may need to be familiar with. These topics include:

• stock compensation issues that draw IRS scrutiny
• key changes in the income exemption amounts for calculating the alternative minimum tax
• revised rules for using old AMT credits to help taxpayers stuck with ISO stock whose value has dropped
• the effect of stock compensation on any remaining eligibility to receive the 2008 tax rebate for individuals
• the complexity of estimated taxes
• netting capital gains and losses with company stock
• the impact of the deferred compensation provisions in IRC Section 409A
• looking ahead, the effect of stock compensation on eligibility to receive the Making Work Pay Credit under the 2009 stimulus law

Tax Center Makes Sense Of Reporting On Form W-2 And Schedule D

The hub of tax coverage on myStockOptions.com is the Tax Center. This part of the site includes FAQs that explain the reporting of stock compensation that employees receive on Form W-2. With clear annotations on the real IRS form, other FAQs show exactly how to report sales of company stock on Schedule D of Form 1040 (see the section Reporting Company Stock Sales).

"Employees understand concepts much better using the straightforward illustrations provided by myStockOptions.com," says one stock plan manager whose company has licensed the Tax Center to help its employees. "They find the tax information and annotated tax forms extremely helpful in simplifying the tax filing for stock trades. They are thrilled that this makes tax time easy." (For information on corporate services, see the relevant section below.)

Clear Answers For All Types Of Stock Grants

Using concise explanations and easy-to-follow annotated diagrams of the actual IRS form, detailed FAQs show employees, accountants, and tax advisors how to complete Schedule D ("Capital Gains and Losses") for a variety of situations involving sales of company stock. These diagrams occur in the section Reporting Company Stock Sales, which answers a wide variety of questions, from basic to complex. Advanced reporting situations, all fully illustrated, include:

• I exercised NQSOs, held the stock, and now have long-term capital gains on the sale. Do I get any "credit" on my tax return for the income tax I paid for the spread at exercise?
• How am I taxed if I have made a disqualifying disposition of incentive stock option (ISO) shares in a different year than the year I exercised the option?
• When I hold restricted stock and performance shares after vesting and later have capital gains on the sale, will I get any "credit" for the income tax I paid at vesting?
• When my restricted stock units vested, my company automatically withheld shares to cover the tax. Do I need to report these shares on my Schedule D?
• How do I report any gain that results from the sale of my stock appreciation rights (SARs) shares on my federal income-tax return?

The answers to these questions are presented in plain English and are clearly illustrated with annotated diagrams of the real IRS form. In an additional benefit only for subscribers, all Premium and Pro Members can contact the experts at myStockOptions.com with any complex questions not answered on the site.

About myStockOptions.com

With exclusive articles, 700+ FAQs, the Tax Center, Global Tax Guide, an extensive glossary, and interactive tools, myStockOptions.com is the premier online resource of educational content and tools on stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance shares, stock appreciation rights, and employee stock purchase plans. myStockOptions.com is written and managed by leading experts in equity compensation, and is produced by a company with a long history of successful publications explaining complex legal and financial subjects in plain English.

For more information, please contact Bruce Brumberg and Matt Simon on the editorial staff at 617-734-1979.

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