Stock Options: To Qualify, or Not to Qualify? That is the Question.

Options to purchase stock of an employer continue to be a popular form of equity-based compensation, particularly among start-ups and other privately-held companies.

One perennial question companies face in designing stock option programs is the extent to which they should grant nonqualified stock options, known as “NQSOs,” or statutory stock options, known as “incentive stock options” or “ISOs.” READ MORE