In what tax year selling my stock options happened?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: ChronoTrigger Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/157098 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. My employer, a private company, paid me with stock options. In 2021, the company bought back stock options from employees, so I sold some to them. We signed the "Letter of transmittal" in December 2021, in which the company and I agreed on selling them the stock options. In the history of my broker, I see two events that happened in January 2022: exercise and repurchase. I also got the money in my bank account in January 2022, and it was reported by my employer in the 2022 W-2. So, do I have to report that income in 2022, or can I argue that it is a 2021 income for tax purposes?

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: keshlam Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/157100 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. The transaction took place in 2022, as per he broker statements. The fact that you authorized it in 2021 isn't relevant for tax purposes.