/biz/ - Business & Finance

So my job has an employee stock purchase program where I can purchase stock at a 10% discount based on deductions from my payroll (1-10% of gross pay)

I make 85k right now, so assuming I put the max amount of contribution toward the ESPP, I would buy $8.5k worth of stock, right?

Additionally I can sell it whenever I get it but if I do that I'm subject to short-term capital gains tax and the full discount is taxed as ordinary income and reported on my W-2

On the other hand if I hold it for greater than two years from the beginning of the purchase period, it's taxed as the lesser of either the actual gain or 15% of FMV on the 1st day of the purchase period for the stock. Any additional gain on the sale is treated as long-term capital gain.

This is a lot of information but basically should I be maxing out the amount I can contribute to the ESPP (the full 8.5k per year) and then just sell it as soon as I get it so I can lock in whatever gains I may have made? Or should I try to hold it for longer than 2 years for tax reasons?