QSBS stands for Qualified Small Business Stock. At a high level, QSBS means founder's stock and stock bought early in a company's life.

Since 1993, the Federal Tax Code has had benefits for buying, owning, and selling QSBS. Currently, there is a full Federal Tax exclusion for the first $10mm of capital gains on QSBS.

Recently, the New York State Senate introduced a budget proposal in which NYS opts out of recognizing QSBS in its tax code. Historically, NYS has recognized the QSBS tax exclusion similarly to the Federal one.

There is a fair bit of misinformation and heat on Twitter about this and I thought I'd explain what is really going on.

Like the Federal government, there are three seats at the budget table in Albany. At this time, only the New York State Senate has taken this position on QSBS. The New York State Legislature, and most importantly, the Governor, have not taken a position on it yet.

So if you've read something on Twitter about QSBS and NYS, I recommend you relax and wait for all of this to pan out before making any rash decisions.

What you can do, if you are a NY founder or startup investor, is to sign onto Tech:NYC's letter to the Governor and the leaders of the Senate and Assembly. They will close signatures at noon ET today (Monday) so you need to act quickly if you want to sign it.

QSBS stands for Qualified Small Business Stock. At a high level, QSBS means founder's stock and stock bought early in a company's life.

Since 1993, the Federal Tax Code has had benefits for buying, owning, and selling QSBS. Currently, there is a full Federal Tax exclusion for the first $10mm of capital gains on QSBS.

Recently, the New York State Senate introduced a budget proposal in which NYS opts out of recognizing QSBS in its tax code. Historically, NYS has recognized the QSBS tax exclusion similarly to the Federal one.

There is a fair bit of misinformation and heat on Twitter about this and I thought I'd explain what is really going on.

Like the Federal government, there are three seats at the budget table in Albany. At this time, only the New York State Senate has taken this position on QSBS. The New York State Legislature, and most importantly, the Governor, have not taken a position on it yet.

So if you've read something on Twitter about QSBS and NYS, I recommend you relax and wait for all of this to pan out before making any rash decisions.

What you can do, if you are a NY founder or startup investor, is to sign onto Tech:NYC's letter to the Governor and the leaders of the Senate and Assembly. They will close signatures at noon ET today (Monday) so you need to act quickly if you want to sign it.