[beagle3]

> Sounds like you're in the same boat as everyone else in your round, right?

5% of the investment is accounted for by US tax payers. The rest are not, so I'm not in the same boat.

> If the stock goes down further, you should be able to claim the loss on your taxes when you sell, which should mean you would need more than a 52% total decline to go in the red on the deal.

No. The tax event is on the grant, not a capital gain (therefore capital loss does not cancel). Furthermore, if I fall under AMT (very likely), I can't deduct anything.

> Are you an accredited investor?

Yes.

[ldd-]

>No. The tax event is on the grant, not capital gain (therefore capital loss does not cancel). Furthermore, if I fall under AMT (very likely), I can't deduct anything.

Ooph . . . sorry. However, just so I understand, if your shares were to rise above the transaction price, would you not be subject to capital gains tax on the gain? It would seem a bit misaligned if you could be taxed on gains but not benefit from losses (however, I wouldn't put that past the codes and that still wouldn't account for AMT issues).

Good luck with it!

[beagle3]

> if your shares were to rise above the transaction price, would you not be subject to capital gains tax on the gain?

Yes. The way the IRS views it, I was given a an ordinary income bonus which consisted of new shares, and which was valued at $Z during the grant (and taxed as such, at that second). From now on, I own shares, so capital treatment goes into the future. If the stocks drop, I will have capital loss when I sell them -- but I need some other capital gain to net against.