Ask the Taxman- If I exercise my LEAP options and then sell the underlying stock, will I be able to declare long-term capital gains tax on those underlying shares?
Source: Quora
Answer:
Options with more than 9 months until expiration are considered LEAPS. They behave just like other options, so don’t let the term confuse you. It simply means that they have a long “shelf-life”.
The seller of the LEAP is taxed at the long-term capital gain rate if they held the contract for at least a year and a day. … Once a LEAP call option is exercised, the investor must hold the stock purchased for more than 12 months from the exercise date in order to qualify for the long-term capital gains tax rate.
Requested by Reidar Herreid