Stock Options: An Authoritative Guide to Incentive and Nonqualified Stock Option [Hardcover]

Robert R. Pastore (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: PCM Capital Publishing, Sausalito, California, U.S.A.; First Printing edition (1999)
• ISBN-10: 0966889916
• ISBN-13: 978-0966889918
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,028,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The CPA's choice, April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Stock Options: An Authoritative Guide to Incentive and Nonqualified Stock Options (2nd edition) (Hardcover)

I bought this book as a gift for my CPA. He liked it so much that he told his colleagues about it and they bought it too. I saw it listed as "recommended reading" by Cal CPA Online, posted at the California Society of CPAs. I later found that it's used as the basis for continuing education courses for CPAs.

The material is supported by countless references to the Internal Revenue Code, IRS Regulations, IRS private letter rulings, IRS Revenue Rulings. My CPA tells me that if ever audited by the IRS, you quote this book - giving the section of the tax law or other basis for why you prepared your tax return the way you did. It's the ultimate protection for option holders because an IRS agent can't dispute what CPAs call legal "cites" or legal "authority". I've learned from CPAs that it's an important reason why the book is so popular with tax attorneys and CPAs -- it reduces the amount of time they need to spend on tax research at $175+ per hour (because the book has done the work for them) and that makes it less costly for their clients.

IPOs. If you have options on a company that's about to make an IPO, this book shows you how to exercise UNVESTED options if your company's stock option plan allows it. Exercise unvested options and make a section 83(b) election (and how to make the election) if you expect substantial appreciation in the stock --- you end up with less ordinary income and MORE long-term capital gain.

I counted more than 30 examples in the book on just about any income tax question - reload options, using stock already owned to exercise options without having to pay tax, how to compare option packages offered by different employers, how to save taxes by converting ordinary income into capital gain, what makes a disposition of stock disqualifying and what does not and why it matters, how to compute the amount of income subject to tax on an ISO, that the basis in your stock is often different for regular tax purposes and alternative minimum tax and how to report this difference on your tax return in order to avoid the overpayment of AMT, several charts that accompany some of the examples on ISOs, what the AMT credit means and how it arises and that it can be used in future years to reduce the regular income tax, how to decide if it makes sense to exercise ISOs and hold the stock or to make a same-day sale, when it makes sense to buy the stock outright instead of exercising an option well before its date of expiration, how to report option transactions on IRS Form 1040.

38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I expected more for 40 dollars, April 13, 1999

By 

T. Hudgins (MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stock Options: An Authoritative Guide to Incentive and Nonqualified Stock Option (Hardcover)

I was shocked at the thinness of this book. Not including the Appendix and and intro, I count about 73 pages. Many of those pages contain tables and many of those tables were *very* simple re-hashes of the examples. I feel like I spent way too much money on this book.

It does a good job at explaining NQSOs and ISOs and all the quirks of each. When it got to the part I was really interested in "Two Tax Saving strategies", I found that while it does present some general ground rules and some examples, it ends up saying basically that it all depends on your situation. I half expected to read the proverbial "speak to your tax advisor about your specific tax situation."

If you want basic info about Stock Options, you can find that on the Web. If you want general advice about what to do with your options - exercise and hold; delay; etc., this will give it. If you want detailed advice and formula for figuring out what to do, get something else.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read if you own ISOs or NQSOs, March 6, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stock Options: An Authoritative Guide to Incentive and Nonqualified Stock Options (2nd edition) (Hardcover)

I've read every news paper article, taken several educational classes, and devoured water cooler gossip on how best to take advantage of stock options. This book sets the record straight on how to save your precious option $$ from tax erosion. It's tough reading, best done with pencil, paper, and calculator in hand, but worth every penny you spent!