So part of my sign-on stock vested on August 15, 2017 apart from my year end stock that vests quarterly. How do I sell the stocks that complete 1 yr exactly so as to avoid short term capital gain? Do I just sell that number of stocks and it doesn't have to be those exact ones? I don't know if you can even track one vested stock from the other. TIA.
So I’m assuming you have not tried to sell yet. Almost all brokers have a way to clearly label what bucket of shares you are selling from. That being said i think it’s worth noting that you need to hold it for a year AFTER it vests, I’m not sure if that is your case
As others have mentioned, they usually show buckets or when shares vested so it’s easier to track. That’s how it appears in Morgan Stanley for me, not sure what Msft uses. If msft keeps stocks Keeps growing why are you looking to sell? Different story if you need the money immediately but are you planning on pulling out to invest the money elsewhere?
It is wise to diversify.
it is called tax lot. When you the number of shares you sell is less than the total you own in your account, you can specify which tax lot to sell. Every broker has this featur
You can sell specific shares, but the value of the stock on the day it vests is taxable to you as regular income regardless of how long you hold it
If you are using E*TRADE as your broker then you should be able to track which one vested when. They are also marked with short term / long term. I can’t say about other brokerages.