My company has categorized as a disqualifying disposition the sale of some ESPP shares which I executed two years to the day after the grant date.
I.e., the grant date was 12/1/2009, and I executed the sale on
12/1/2011. This was also a year and a half after the shares were purchased for me by the ESPP, so I'm confident that I've satisfied _that_ part of the qualifying disposition requirement.
What I'm trying to figure out is if I erred by selling the shares on 12/1 instead of 12/2. I.e., is the holding requirement actually "more than two years," i.e., at least two years and one day, such that if I'd sold the shares a day later I'd be paying the long-term cap gains rate on (some of) the proceeds instead of the short-term cap gains rate?
I asked the ESPP administrator at my company why this particular sale was classified as a disqualifying disposition, and she sent back a useless answer which made it clear that she didn't at all understand my question. I thought it might be useful to post here about the "two years" vs. "more than two years" question before going another round trying to help her get a clue.
Thanks,
jik