Amazon RSU India guide: the 5-15-40-40 back-weighted vesting, sign-on bonuses, and the Year 3 perquisite cliff

An L6 Senior SDE joined Amazon India in 2022. Their offer letter had a $600,000 RSU grant plus two cash sign-on bonuses — one in Year 1 (about $150,000) and another in Year 2 (about $100,000). The first two tax years felt manageable: cash sign-on bonus + base salary + a small first RSU vest at end of Year 1 (≈$30,000 = ≈₹25 lakh). Year 2 was similar — bigger sign-on bonus to compensate for still-small RSU vest (≈$90,000 = ≈₹75 lakh).

Filing for AY 2026-27? This piece is part of the Tax filing season 2026 master guide — start there for the full ITR-2 roadmap covering Schedule FA, Form 44/67, and the July 31 deadline workflow.

Then Year 3 hit. The cash sign-on bonuses had ended. The RSU vest jumped from 15% of the grant to 40% of the grant — concentrated into four quarterly vests of 10% each. Total RSU perquisite for Year 3: ≈$240,000 = ≈₹200 lakh. Plus a refresh grant from the annual comp cycle. The engineer's total income for FY 2024-25 crossed ₹2 crore for the first time, triggering the 25% surcharge band. Their previous-year advance-tax estimate was based on a still-modest equity vest. Section 234C interest on the under-payment was ₹2.5 lakh.

This is the structural feature of Amazon equity comp that catches most engineers off-guard: the Year 3 perquisite cliff. Amazon's 5-15-40-40 back-weighted vesting schedule means your first two years are quiet on the equity side (offset by cash sign-on bonuses) and Years 3 and 4 are massive. Your tax-bracket planning needs to happen in Year 2, before the cliff lands.

This article is the Amazon-specific RSU guide. The structural tax framework lives in the 4-article RSU lifecycle series; this article fills in everything Amazon-specific — the back-weighted vesting schedule, the sign-on bonus structure (SOB1 and SOB2), the broker choice (Morgan Stanley StockPlan Connect or Fidelity NetBenefits — Amazon employees pick at onboarding), and the Year 3 cliff planning.

Amazon's grant types — RSU + Sign-on Bonus only

Amazon's equity structure is one of the cleanest among major US tech employers. There's no ESPP. There's no PSU. There's no employee stock purchase plan. Just:

Grant type	When	Vesting / payout
Initial RSU grant	At hire	5-15-40-40 over 4 years (vesting schedule below)
Annual Refresh RSU grant	Yearly post-Forte/performance review	Same 5-15-40-40 schedule starting from grant date
Sign-on Bonus 1 (SOB1)	Paid in Year 1 (typically quarterly)	Cash bonus; clawback if you leave before 1 year
Sign-on Bonus 2 (SOB2)	Paid in Year 2 (typically quarterly)	Cash bonus; clawback if you leave before 2 years
Special / Retention grants	Promotion or retention	Schedule varies

Critical: Amazon has never paid a dividend. AMZN does not distribute cash dividends — all returns are via share-price appreciation. This means no Form 44 FTC complication for dividends at any point in your Amazon tenure. The only Form 44 / 1042-S scenarios are if you somehow held dividend-paying shares from another employer in the same Amazon-affiliated brokerage account (rare).

Critical: Amazon has no ESPP. Unlike Microsoft (10% discount), Apple (15% + 6-month lookback), and NVIDIA (15% + 6-month lookback), Amazon employees don't have a stock purchase plan to track. The only equity perquisite events are the RSU vests on the back-weighted schedule.

The Amazon RSU vesting schedule — 5-15-40-40 back-loaded

For every Amazon RSU grant (initial or refresh):

Year	% of total grant vested	Vest frequency
Year 1	5%	Single annual vest at end of Year 1
Year 2	15%	Single annual vest at end of Year 2
Year 3	40%	Quarterly vests (10% each quarter)
Year 4	40%	Quarterly vests (10% each quarter)

Years 1 and 2 are annual vests — a single event per year. Years 3 and 4 shift to quarterly disbursement, with 10% vesting at the end of each quarter.

For a $600,000 initial grant:

Vest event	Date (relative to grant start)	%	Value
Year 1 vest	End of Year 1	5%	$30,000
Year 2 vest	End of Year 2	15%	$90,000
Y3 Q1 vest	End of Year 3 Q1	10%	$60,000
Y3 Q2 vest	End of Year 3 Q2	10%	$60,000
Y3 Q3 vest	End of Year 3 Q3	10%	$60,000
Y3 Q4 vest	End of Year 3 Q4	10%	$60,000
Y4 Q1 vest	End of Year 4 Q1	10%	$60,000
Y4 Q2 vest	End of Year 4 Q2	10%	$60,000
Y4 Q3 vest	End of Year 4 Q3	10%	$60,000
Y4 Q4 vest	End of Year 4 Q4	10%	$60,000
Total over 4 years		100%	$600,000

The compounding with refresh grants. Annual refresh grants vest on the same 5-15-40-40 schedule starting from each grant date. By Year 3 of your tenure:

• Year 3 of your initial grant: 40% vest distributed across 4 quarters
• Year 2 of your Year-1 refresh: 15% single annual vest
• Year 1 of your Year-2 refresh: 5% single annual vest

In Year 3 you might also have Year 1 vesting from a third refresh grant if Amazon issued one to you mid-year. The compounding effect is real but the dominant contribution comes from the original initial grant entering its Year 3 (40%) phase.

Sign-on Bonus 1 and 2 — the cash side of the comp

To make total compensation competitive in Years 1 and 2 (when RSU vests are small at 5% and 15%), Amazon pays two cash sign-on bonuses:

Bonus	Year paid	Typical size	Clawback condition
Sign-on Bonus 1 (SOB1)	Year 1 (often paid quarterly across 12 months)	Roughly the cash-equivalent of the missing Year 1 RSU value	If you leave Amazon before completing 1 year, you owe a pro-rated repayment
Sign-on Bonus 2 (SOB2)	Year 2 (often paid quarterly across 12 months)	Smaller than SOB1, calibrated to keep Year 2 cash comp competitive	Pro-rated clawback if you leave before completing 2 years

India tax treatment of sign-on bonuses:

• Taxed as ordinary salary income at slab rate (no special bonus treatment)
• TDS deducted by Amazon India payroll on each bonus payment
• Reported on Form 16 as part of salary
• Subject to Section 89 relief if the bonus relates to multiple years and you'd be over-taxed by being concentrated in one year (rare in practice)

Clawback case: If you leave Amazon before 1 year and have to repay SOB1, the repayment generally doesn't reverse the tax already paid in the year of receipt. You'd claim the repayment as a deduction in the year of repayment under specific tax provisions — consult a CA for the exact mechanism. Most engineers who leave mid-year owe both the gross bonus back to Amazon and the tax to the government.

No India-side concern about SOB tax math is what makes it cleaner than RSU perquisite — the bonus is just standard salary, captured on Form 16, no SBI TTBR conversion needed (it's already paid in INR through Amazon India payroll).

Morgan Stanley StockPlan Connect or Fidelity NetBenefits — the broker choice

Amazon is unusual among major US tech employers in that employees can choose between two brokers at onboarding:

Option A: Morgan Stanley StockPlan Connect	Option B: Fidelity NetBenefits
stockplanconnect.morganstanley.com	netbenefits.fidelity.com
Equity-only platform	Combined platform with Amazon 401(k) + equity awards
Same UX as Google, Microsoft, Apple users	Same UX as some other Amazon-affiliated benefits
Standard 1042-S and 1099-B issuance	Standard 1042-S and 1099-B issuance
Account number: 9 digits	Account number: 10-11 digits

The choice is typically made during onboarding and is reversible later (you can transfer your account between providers, with some friction). For Indian residents, the choice doesn't materially affect tax treatment — both brokers issue 1042-S, both support W-8BEN, both allow international account holders.

For Schedule FA disclosure, the custodian name differs:

• Morgan Stanley: "Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC" at 1585 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
• Fidelity: "Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC" at 200 Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA 02210

If you opened with one provider, transferred to the other mid-year, and held shares in both during the same calendar year, file as two separate Schedule FA entries with the two different custodian names.

Practical difference for Indian filers: if you also have an Amazon 401(k) account (less common for India-resident employees but possible for transferees from US), Fidelity consolidates 401(k) + equity in one platform, making statement download simpler. If you have no 401(k), Morgan Stanley's equity-focused platform is slightly cleaner.

Statement download for Indian filing:

• Morgan Stanley: Login → Statements → Annual → Download PDF. Set calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31).
• Fidelity: Login → Documents → Tax Documents and Statements. The "Annual Statement" covers calendar year by default; explicitly verify.

Four-year worked example: an L6 SDE Indian engineer

This walks through a typical L6 (Senior SDE) Indian engineer who joined Amazon India in October 2022. The example shows the Year-3 cliff explicitly.

Year 1 (FY 2023-24): SOB1 + small RSU vest at year-end.

Assume initial RSU grant of $600,000 + SOB1 of $150,000 + SOB2 of $100,000 (paid in Year 2).

• Salary (base): assume ₹40 lakh
• SOB1 (paid quarterly across Year 1): $150,000 = ≈₹12.5 lakh per year (distributed quarterly)
• RSU vest (end of Year 1): 5% × $600,000 = $30,000 = ≈Rs 28 lakh at TTBR ≈Rs 95
• Total Year 1 perquisite + salary: ₹40L + ₹12.5L + ₹25L = ₹77.5 lakh

Tax at 30% slab + 10% surcharge (since >₹50L): ≈₹24 lakh

Year 2 (FY 2024-25): SOB2 + bigger RSU vest at year-end.

• Salary (base): assume ₹43 lakh (with annual merit)
• SOB2: $100,000 = ≈₹8.4 lakh
• RSU vest (end of Year 2): 15% × $600,000 = $90,000 = ≈Rs 86 lakh at TTBR ≈Rs 95
• Annual refresh grant: assume $200,000 granted at Year-1 anniversary; vests 5% in its Year 1 (end of Year 2): $10,000 = ≈₹8 lakh
• Total Year 2 perquisite + salary: ₹43L + ₹8.4L + ₹75L + ₹8L = ₹134 lakh

Crosses ₹1 crore → 15% surcharge applies. Tax: ≈₹45-47 lakh.

Year 3 (FY 2025-26): THE CLIFF. RSU vest jumps to 40%, no more SOBs.

• Salary (base): assume ₹46 lakh
• SOB ends — no more sign-on bonus
• Initial RSU grant Year 3 vest: 40% × $600,000 = $240,000, in 4 quarterly tranches of $60,000
  • Convert each at SBI TTBR on respective vest dates
  • Approximate total: $240,000 = ≈Rs 228 lakh (at ≈Rs 95 avg)
• Year-1 refresh grant ($200,000) Year 2 vest: 15% × $200,000 = $30,000 = ≈₹25 lakh
• Year-2 refresh grant (assume $250,000 granted) Year 1 vest: 5% × $250,000 = $12,500 = ≈₹10 lakh
• Total Year 3 perquisite + salary: ₹46L + ₹202L + ₹25L + ₹10L = ₹283 lakh

Crosses ₹2 crore → 25% surcharge kicks in. Total tax (including cess and surcharge stack): roughly ₹105-115 lakh depending on exact slab brackets.

This is the Year 3 cliff. Compared to Year 2 (≈₹46 lakh tax), Year 3 tax is roughly 2.3-2.5× higher — a single-year jump that catches many engineers by surprise.

Year 4 (FY 2026-27): Continued spike, no SOBs, multiple refresh grants.

• Salary: ≈₹49 lakh
• Initial RSU Year 4 vest: 40% × $600,000 = $240,000 = ≈₹202 lakh
• Y1 refresh Year 3 vest: 40% × $200,000 = $80,000 = ≈₹67 lakh
• Y2 refresh Year 2 vest: 15% × $250,000 = $37,500 = ≈₹31 lakh
• Y3 refresh grant (assume $300,000) Year 1 vest: 5% × $300,000 = $15,000 = ≈₹13 lakh
• Total Year 4: ₹49L + ₹202L + ₹67L + ₹31L + ₹13L = ₹362 lakh

Tax: ≈₹140-150 lakh.

The structural pattern: Year 3 and Year 4 are the peak earning years at Amazon. This is when you maximize income, max out tax-saving instruments (PPF, ELSS, NPS — though most are slab-limited), and consider tax-advantaged structures like HUF if applicable.

Advance tax planning for the cliff

Because the Year-3 jump is structural and predictable (you know it's coming from the day you sign the offer letter), advance tax planning should begin in Year 2:

Q1 advance tax installment (June 15): 15% of estimated annual tax. For Year 3, estimate based on the known 40% vest at projected AMZN prices.

Q2 installment (September 15): Cumulative 45% paid.

Q3 installment (December 15): Cumulative 75% paid.

Q4 installment (March 15): Full 100%.

If you under-pay in early installments, Section 234C interest at 1% per month for each shortfall installment kicks in at year-end. For a ₹100 lakh tax liability with major under-payment in Q1, 234C interest can easily be ₹3-5 lakh — a meaningful avoidable cost.

Recommended approach: model your Year 3 income using current AMZN share price (don't assume optimistic appreciation), compute the indicative advance-tax installments, and pay slightly above the estimate. Excess goes into the year-end refund; under-payment triggers 234C.

Form 16 + AIS reconciliation — Amazon India specifics

Amazon's India entities (Amazon Development Centre (India) Pvt Ltd; Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd; Amazon Internet Services Pvt Ltd for AWS; etc.) handle payroll TDS for India-resident employees:

Item	Where it appears
Base salary + SOB	Form 16 Part B Section A: gross salary
RSU vest perquisite	Form 16 Part B Section B(1)(b): "Value of perquisites"
TDS on salary + SOB	Form 16 Part A (monthly)
TDS on RSU perquisite	Form 16 Part A (in the month following each vest)
Detailed perquisite breakdown	Form 12BA, attached to Form 16

SOB tax timing: Amazon India typically pays SOB1 and SOB2 in quarterly installments rather than as lump sums, spreading the tax impact across the year. Form 16 reflects the cumulative annual SOB amount as part of salary.

RSU TDS: Amazon India payroll calculates TDS on the perquisite portion using the SBI TTBR on the vest date. The TDS is deducted in the month following the vest — so a December vest results in TDS deduction from January's salary.

AIS quirks: Amazon RSU vests should appear as "Perquisite from employer" in AIS, aggregated with other salary items. The vests should NOT appear separately as US-source income — if you see that, it's a 26AS misclassification (typically because Amazon's parent company filed something that flowed through to Indian AIS).

Schedule FA for Amazon.com, Inc.

For each calendar year when you held AMZN shares:

Field	Value for Amazon
Country	2 (United States of America)
Name of Entity	Amazon.com, Inc.
Address of Entity	410 Terry Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
Nature of Entity	Foreign Listed Company
Date of Acquisition	Earliest vest date of currently-held shares
Initial Value (INR)	Cost basis at acquisition (vest-date TTBR × shares × price)
Peak Value (INR)	Highest market value during calendar year × TTBR
Closing Value (INR)	Dec 31 value × Dec 31 TTBR
Total dividends received (INR)	₹0 (Amazon doesn't pay dividends)
Total sale proceeds (INR)	If you sold
Custodian	Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC (whichever broker you chose)
Custodian Address	Morgan Stanley: 1585 Broadway, NY 10036; Fidelity: 200 Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA 02210
Account Number	9 digits (Morgan Stanley) or 10-11 digits (Fidelity)

Single entry for AMZN — there's only one share class.

If you've switched brokers mid-year, file two Schedule FA entries — one for each custodian, covering the period when shares were with that broker.

Zero dividends — the dividend field is just ₹0. Don't leave it blank (Schedule FA validation may flag); explicitly enter ₹0.

Capital gains when you sell

The cost basis for your Amazon shares is the vest-date INR value already declared as perquisite income — the amount on your Form 12BA / Form 16. You have already paid tax on that amount. Capital gains are computed only on the price movement after vest.

Short-term capital gains (STCG): If you sell within 24 months of vest, the gain is taxed at your income tax slab rate (30% + applicable surcharge + 4% cess for most FAANG employees). There is no concessional rate.

Long-term capital gains (LTCG): If you sell 24 months or more after vest, the gain is taxed at 12.5% under Section 112 (no indexation benefit for foreign listed shares). For most high-earning employees, this is a significant reduction from the 30%+ slab rate.

The 24-month rule in practice: The holding clock starts on the vest date (when shares were credited to your Morgan Stanley or Fidelity account), not the grant date. Keep a vest date log — your Form 12BA or broker statement is the source of record.

Cost basis in INR: Use the SBI TTBR rate on the vest date (the same rate used for perquisite valuation) multiplied by the USD FMV at vest. This becomes your cost of acquisition for capital gains purposes.

When you sell: Your broker will provide a 1099-B showing proceeds in USD. Convert the sale proceeds to INR using the SBI TTBR rate on the sale date. Subtract the INR cost basis. The difference is your capital gain (or loss) in INR.

Six common filing errors for Amazon employees

1. Under-estimating Year 3 advance tax. The most expensive error. If your Year-2 advance tax was based on Year-2-level RSU vests, your Year-3 advance tax estimate must include the 40% vest jump. Section 234C interest on a ₹50+ lakh shortfall can be ₹3+ lakh.

2. Treating SOB1/SOB2 as RSU perquisite. SOBs are salary, not perquisite. They appear on Form 16 in the salary section, not the perquisite section. Filing them under Section 17(2) instead of Section 17(1) is technically wrong (though tax math is the same).

3. Missing the broker choice in Schedule FA. If you chose Fidelity, the custodian name is "Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC" — not "Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC." Many filing templates default to Morgan Stanley.

4. Trying to claim Form 44 FTC when Amazon paid no dividend. Amazon has never paid a dividend. There's no US WHT to credit. If your filing template has a Form 44 field auto-filled with $0, that's fine — just don't file an unnecessary Form 44.

5. Misunderstanding clawback timing on SOB. If you leave Amazon mid-Year-1 after receiving SOB1, you may owe pro-rated repayment to Amazon. The tax already paid on the bonus doesn't automatically come back — you claim the repayment as a deduction in the year of repayment under specific provisions. Don't confuse this with a refund.

6. Sell-to-cover proceeds confused with sales. When Morgan Stanley or Fidelity sells shares at each vest to cover US tax withholding, that sell-to-cover is not a separate Schedule CG sale event. It's a transactional detail of the vest, already captured by the gross vest value entered as perquisite.

RSU concentration — and what to do about it

By Year 4 at Amazon, the typical L6+ engineer holds 40-60% of their liquid net worth in AMZN stock. This is similar to Microsoft and Meta concentration levels but with the additional wrinkle that the bulk of the equity accumulates in Years 3 and 4 (versus more even accumulation at Google/Microsoft).

The standard Morgan Stanley StockPlan Connect or Fidelity NetBenefits account doesn't let you diversify within the same account — you can hold AMZN, sell and convert to USD cash, or remit the proceeds. The sell-and-remit path triggers separate LRS + FEMA considerations and converts the asset out of the foreign-equity bucket.

TCS on the sell-and-remit path: When you remit sale proceeds from your US broker account back to India under LRS, your bank collects TCS (Tax Collected at Source) at 0% on the first ₹10 lakh remitted per financial year and 20% on amounts above ₹10 lakh. TCS is not an extra tax — it is credited against your total income tax liability when you file your ITR. But it does block capital temporarily. For employees selling large tranches, plan remittances across financial years where possible to stay within the ₹10 lakh threshold, or factor the TCS credit into your advance tax planning.

Rovia is built specifically for this problem. Transfer your vested Amazon shares from Morgan Stanley or Fidelity directly to Rovia (in-kind transfer, no taxable event), then redeploy into diversified US ETFs or other single stocks while keeping the assets in the foreign-equity bucket and the original LRS treatment intact. Rovia charges 0.15% brokerage per trade, capped at $15 per order.

Compensation by level — what Indian engineers actually receive

Amazon India engineers are compensated on the global Amazon pay structure. RSU grants scale significantly with level, and at senior levels RSU income dominates total compensation.

Level	Title	Experience	New-hire RSU grant	RSU as % of TC
SDE1	Software Dev Engineer I	0–2 years	$10,000–$25,000	8–14%
SDE2	Software Dev Engineer II	2–5 years	$25,000–$60,000	14–22%
SDE3	Senior SDE	5–8 years	$60,000–$130,000	22–32%
Principal SDE	Principal Engineer	8–12 years	$130,000–$280,000	32–42%
Senior Principal	Senior Principal Engineer	12+ years	$280,000–$500,000+	42–52%

The Amazon vesting asymmetry: Amazon's 5-15-40-40 back-weighted schedule means SDE1 and SDE2 engineers in Years 1–2 receive a small fraction of their total grant. The large vest events arrive in Years 3 and 4 — which is intentional retention design. For Indian tax planning, this means the highest perquisite years are Years 3 and 4 for the initial grant, compounding with refresh grants issued in Years 1 and 2.

Refresh grant sizing: Amazon's annual refresh grants at SDE2 and above are typically $20,000–$80,000 for mid-level engineers, escalating with performance ratings. An SDE2 with "Exceeds Expectations" for two consecutive years may receive refresh grants totalling more than the original new-hire grant.

Case study: 10 years holding AMZN vs diversifying to S&P 500

Consider an SDE2 who joined Amazon India in January 2014 and vested $60,000 of AMZN stock over 4 years (approximately $15,000 per year). The engineer held all vested shares without selling.

Scenario A: Held all AMZN shares

• AMZN price January 2014: ≈$400 (pre-20:1 split equivalent: ≈$20)
• AMZN price January 2024: ≈$153 (post-split)
• 10-year CAGR: ≈17%
• $60,000 invested at 2014 prices → ≈$298,000 by January 2024
• Concentration risk lived through: 2022 saw AMZN fall ~55% peak to trough

Scenario B: Sold each vest tranche and moved into S&P 500 (SPY/equivalent)

• S&P 500 10-year CAGR (2014–2024): ≈13%
• $60,000 → ≈$204,000 by January 2024
• Volatility significantly lower; no single-stock concentration

The numbers here favour holding AMZN — but the outcome is not predictable in advance. An engineer who made the same choice in 2021 (when AMZN was at $180 pre-split, or $3,600 equivalent) would have held through a 55% decline before partial recovery. The diversification argument is not about expected return — it is about removing a single-stock outcome from a career-linked income stream. If your salary and RSU are both from the same employer, a company downturn affects both simultaneously.

Tax angle: Vested shares held 24+ months from each vest date qualify for 12.5% LTCG. For the 2014-cohort engineer selling in 2024, the effective capital gains rate on the $238,000 gain would be 12.5% (≈₹2.5 crore × 12.5% = ≈₹31 lakh) — far below the 30%+ slab rate on income.

US estate tax and UCITS — a risk most RSU holders ignore

Every Indian resident holding US-listed stocks or ETFs in a US brokerage account is a non-resident alien (NRA) for US estate tax purposes. US estate tax applies to NRAs on US-situs assets — which includes shares of US-listed companies held in US brokerage accounts — above a $60,000 exemption threshold.

The estate tax rate on amounts above $60,000 ranges from 18% to 40%. For an Indian engineer with $200,000 in company stock in their E*Trade or Schwab account, the estate tax exposure is approximately ($200,000 − $60,000) × 40% = $56,000 — nearly a third of the portfolio value, payable by the estate to the IRS before assets can be transferred to heirs.

This risk is not theoretical. It applies from the moment a non-resident alien's US-situs assets exceed $60,000.

What counts as US-situs:

• Shares of US companies (AMZN, AAPL, GOOGL, etc.) held in a US brokerage account ✓ Subject to estate tax
• US-domiciled ETFs (VTI, QQQ, SPY) held in a US brokerage account ✓ Subject to estate tax
• Ireland/Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS ETFs (CSPX, VWRA, SWRD on the London Stock Exchange) ✗ Not US-situs — exempt from US estate tax

The practical implication: When you sell company RSU shares and redeploy into index ETFs, choosing UCITS-domiciled equivalents (CSPX for S&P 500, VWRA for global equity) instead of US-domiciled ETFs (SPY, VTI) eliminates the estate tax exposure on the redeployed portion while maintaining similar market exposure.

Dividend withholding: UCITS ETFs domiciled in Ireland benefit from the US-Ireland tax treaty — 15% withholding on US dividends at the fund level, versus 30% for funds domiciled elsewhere. This improves net dividend yield compared to non-Ireland-domiciled funds.

For employees with $60,000+ in RSU shares: the estate tax exposure is live today. It does not require selling — simply holding US-situs assets above $60,000 as a non-resident alien creates the exposure. The mitigation options are: (1) diversify proceeds into UCITS ETFs after selling RSU lots; (2) use a tax-efficient account structure; or (3) consult an estate planning attorney for larger portfolios.

Rovia supports trading in both US-listed stocks and UCITS ETFs — you can hold your company RSU shares in the same account as UCITS positions, giving you flexibility to rebalance gradually without switching platforms.

Q2 2026 earnings — what the results mean for AMZN RSU holders

Amazon reported Q2 2026 results on July 30, 2026. The print was the strongest of earnings week.

Metric	Result	vs Estimate
Revenue	$196.9B (+20% YoY)	Beat ($196B expected)
EPS (adjusted)	$1.97	Beat ($1.82 expected)
AWS revenue	$42.2B (+37% YoY)	Beat ($40.5B expected) — fastest in 18 quarters
Operating income	$27.5B (+43%)	Strong
Full-year capex guidance	$220B (raised)	Read as demand-signal positive
Stock reaction	+9–10% after hours	$257 from $235 close

AWS 37% growth — the fastest in 18 quarters — validated the AI infrastructure investment thesis. The raised capex guidance ($220B) was read positively, unlike Google's capex hike, because AWS growth is directly tied to the spend rather than speculative.

For RSU holders vesting in August 2026: August is one of the most common vest months for Amazon employees (standard grant cadences from September/October hire dates produce August vests). Your perquisite FMV reflects the post-earnings price — roughly 10% higher than the pre-earnings close. This means a materially larger perquisite than if you had vested before earnings.

The Year 3 cliff context: Amazon's 5-15-40-40 schedule means Year 3 is when the largest vest happens (40% of the grant). If your August vest is a Year 3 event, the earnings-driven FMV uplift is amplified. An engineer with a $400,000 initial grant vesting 40% in Year 3 sees approximately $160,000 vest at the post-earnings price — the 10% move alone represents $16,000 in additional perquisite income relative to a pre-earnings estimate.

If you hold unvested AMZN shares: The AWS acceleration thesis is clearly intact. The questions to watch for long-term concentration decisions are the capex-to-revenue payback period and whether operating margin continues to expand as AWS grows. The near-term re-rating is real; the medium-term thesis is sound.

Advance tax planning for Amazon RSU holders

Amazon's 5-15-40-40 back-weighted schedule creates a structurally challenging advance tax situation. The mismatch between early-year income and advance tax installments is the most common tax planning gap for Indian Amazon employees.

The Year 3 problem: In Year 3, 40% of your original grant vests. If your grant was $300,000, Year 3 RSU perquisite is approximately $120,000 (≈₹1 crore at current rates). Your employer's TDS in Year 1 and Year 2 was calibrated to much lower perquisite amounts. The Year 3 TDS — even if correctly withheld — represents a sudden income spike that affects your advance tax installments.

September 15 check for Amazon employees:

What to add up	Source
TDS on Q1/Q2 salary (April–August)	Form 26AS or payslips
TDS on any May or August RSU vests	Form 26AS — included in salary TDS
Sign-on bonus TDS (if received in Q1/Q2)	Form 26AS
Total TDS April–August	Sum of above

Compare this to 45% of your estimated full-year tax liability. Full-year estimation must include: (1) annualised base salary, (2) August vest perquisite (actuals — already higher due to earnings), (3) November vest estimate (use current AMZN price as proxy), and (4) sign-on bonus if Year 1 or Year 2.

The Q2 2026 earnings impact on your September 15 calculation: If your August vest hasn't happened yet, estimate it using the post-earnings price ($255–$260 range). If you estimated the August vest before earnings at $235, you need to revise the perquisite upward by approximately 10%. For a $100,000 vest, this is $10,000 more perquisite income — at 34.3% effective rate, approximately ₹2.9 lakh more in tax liability. 45% of that additional ₹2.9 lakh = ₹1.3 lakh that may be an additional gap in your September 15 installment.

For employees with large capital gains from selling AMZN shares: LTCG and STCG from AMZN sales are not covered by salary TDS. Include these in your advance tax calculation. Shares that vested before August 2024 are now eligible for 12.5% LTCG (24+ months); those vested after August 2024 remain at slab rate (STCG) if sold now.

See the advance tax September 15 guide for the full calculation framework.

Next steps

For filing your Amazon RSU income:

1. How RSU double-taxation actually works — the 3-event framework
2. Reading your Morgan Stanley StockPlan Connect statement — field-by-field translation (Morgan Stanley walkthrough; most concepts transfer to Fidelity)
3. From vest to ITR-2: the complete 12-step workflow — execution layer
4. RSU vesting while in US vs India — if you transferred from Seattle / Bay Area back to India
5. Schedule FA disclosure guide — Schedule FA deep dive
6. Schedule FA wizard — upload your Morgan Stanley or Fidelity PDF, get INR-converted Schedule FA + capital gains schedule in CSV. Free for V1.

Other employer-specific guides in this series:

• Google (Alphabet) RSU India guide — the 33-22-25-20 vesting split
• Microsoft RSU India guide — On-Hire + ASAs + ESPP at 10%
• Meta RSU India guide — Schwab, PSU performance multipliers
• Apple RSU India guide (in progress) — semi-annual vests, ESPP at 15% with 6-month lookback
• NVIDIA RSU India guide (in progress) — Schwab, quarterly vest, PSU appreciation

This article reflects Amazon's 2024-2026 grant practices. The 5-15-40-40 vesting schedule applies to standard RSU grants; specific grants (retention, promotion) may have different schedules — verify against your grant memo. We refresh this guide annually after each Budget; the framework holds across rate and policy changes.