ServiceNow RSU India guide: vesting, NOW shares, and tax for Indian employees (2026)

ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE: NOW) is the leading platform for enterprise digital workflows — IT service management (ITSM), IT operations management (ITOM), HR service delivery, customer service management, and increasingly AI-powered automation (Now Assist). ServiceNow has grown from a pure ITSM tool to a horizontal platform replacing legacy enterprise software across finance, legal, procurement, and facilities management. Its customer base includes virtually every Fortune 500 company.

ServiceNow's India operations are centred in Hyderabad, which is its largest engineering location globally outside the United States — a deliberate strategic bet on India talent that began around 2018 and has accelerated through the early 2020s. ServiceNow India works on core platform engineering, AI (Now Assist, Now Intelligence), and domain-specific workflow products for ITSM, ITOM, and the Creator platform. Indian ServiceNow employees receive RSU grants in NOW stock (NYSE-listed), administered via Fidelity NetBenefits.

ServiceNow's RSU structure

Vesting schedule: ServiceNow RSUs follow 4-year quarterly vesting — 6.25% per quarter, starting from the grant date.

Vest dates: Typically March 1, June 1, September 1, December 1 (or the nearest business day if the 1st falls on a weekend or US holiday).

Cliff: Some new-hire grants have a 1-year cliff (25% after year 1, then quarterly thereafter). Confirm your specific grant terms in Fidelity NetBenefits under Stock Plan Services → Grant Details.

Refresh grants: Annual refresh RSU grants are standard for most employees. A 3-year ServiceNow employee will have 3 active grant cycles vesting simultaneously — meaning up to 12 vest events per year.

Ticker: NOW (NYSE)

Fidelity NetBenefits — ServiceNow's equity platform

ServiceNow uses Fidelity NetBenefits for equity plan administration. This is the same platform used by ARM Holdings, Broadcom, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, and Workday for their India RSU programs.

Login: netbenefits.com using your ServiceNow SSO or personal Fidelity credentials (set up during onboarding).

Key sections:

Account number: Fidelity account number (found in NetBenefits → Profile → Account Details). Required for Schedule FA.

Custodian entity for Schedule FA: National Financial Services LLC (NFS) — the Fidelity subsidiary that holds securities for equity plan participants. Address: 245 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA.

NOW share price context

ServiceNow has been one of the strongest-performing enterprise SaaS stocks over the past five years, with the AI workflow narrative giving the stock a second leg of growth from 2023:

The LTCG opportunity: Employees who received grants at the $350–400 trough (2022) have seen those shares roughly 2.5× from cost. Those lots crossed 24-month LTCG eligibility in early-to-mid 2024. Any remaining 2022 trough lots should be prioritised for sale at LTCG rates (12.5%) before newer, higher-basis lots.

Dividends: ServiceNow does not pay dividends. No Form 67 required — one of the simpler aspects of holding NOW vs dividend-heavy stocks like Cisco or Texas Instruments.

Indian tax treatment

At vest (quarterly):

• Perquisite = shares vested × NOW NYSE closing price on vest date × SBI TTBR on vest date
• Added to salary income for that month
• TDS deducted by ServiceNow India entity (ServiceNow Software Solutions India Private Limited)
• Disclosed in Form 12BA and Form 16 Part B

At sale:

• STCG (< 24 months from vest date): taxed at slab rate (up to 30% + surcharge + cess)
• LTCG (≥ 24 months from vest date): taxed at 12.5% under Section 112 (no indexation)

The NOW share price multiplier: At ~$950/share, even modest vesting creates large perquisite income. A quarterly vest of 15 shares at $950 = $14,250 perquisite = approximately ₹11.97 lakh in a single month. With 8–12 vest events per year, total annual perquisite for a mid-senior engineer can exceed ₹60–80 lakh — this is salary income taxed at slab, not capital gains.

TDS coverage: ServiceNow India's payroll typically spreads projected RSU TDS across the year — not just the vest month — to avoid a single-month spike. Verify the spread methodology with your payroll team. Underpaid TDS creates advance tax liability with Section 234B/234C interest.

Form 16 and Form 12BA reconciliation

ServiceNow India payroll handles TDS on quarterly RSU perquisites:

Step-by-step verification:

1. Download RSU activity from Fidelity NetBenefits → Stock Plan Services → Activity (export to CSV)
2. For each vest event (March 1, June 1, September 1, December 1), note: shares released and NOW closing price on that date
3. Look up SBI TTBR for that vest date (RBI website → Foreign Exchange → Reference Rates archive)
4. Compute perquisite: shares × NOW price × TTBR
5. Cross-check each row in Form 12BA against your computed value

Common discrepancy: ServiceNow India may use the previous day's closing price (for grants that vest after market close) or a slightly different TTBR date. If the discrepancy is small (< 1%), it's likely a date rounding issue. If large (> 2%), escalate to your payroll team before filing ITR-2.

Selling NOW shares from Fidelity: your options

Fidelity NetBenefits is an employer-plan platform — it's not a full-service brokerage optimised for Indian investors managing a multi-year equity portfolio. After vesting, you have several choices for where to hold and trade:

Option 1: Sell directly in Fidelity NetBenefits

The simplest path. Log in → Stock Plan Services → Sell. You can sell immediately at vest or hold for LTCG. Lot selection is available ("Specify Lots"). Proceeds sit in your Fidelity account cash; withdraw via international wire.

Suitable for: Employees who sell immediately at vest to avoid concentration risk and don't need a separate brokerage.

Option 2: Transfer NOW shares to IBKR (Interactive Brokers)

Transfer NOW shares from Fidelity to IBKR via ACATS (Automated Customer Account Transfer Service). This is an in-kind transfer — no sale, no capital gains event on transfer.

Why IBKR:

• Better international wire support for Indian accounts
• Lower trading commissions ($0–$1/trade)
• Access to UCITS ETFs (CSPX, VWRA) for diversification after selling NOW
• Consolidated multi-asset portfolio view
• IBKR's Client Portal is more capable than Fidelity's NetBenefits interface for active investors

ACATS process:

1. Open an IBKR account (IBKR India residents can open a standard IBKR account)
2. In IBKR Client Portal → Transfer & Pay → Transfer Positions → ACATS
3. Provide your Fidelity account number (the NFS account); select NOW lots to transfer
4. Processing: 3–5 business days; no cost; no tax event
5. Post-transfer: NOW shares appear in IBKR with original cost basis retained

Schedule FA after transfer: The foreign account disclosure changes from NFS (Fidelity) to IBKR. If you transfer mid-year, disclose both accounts in that year's Schedule FA — the NFS account (for the period you held shares there) and IBKR (from transfer date onwards, or the full year if you held cash/shares at Dec 31).

Option 3: Transfer NOW shares to Rovia

Rovia (backed by Alpaca Securities LLC) is an India-facing US brokerage platform that supports in-kind transfers from employer equity plan custodians.

Why Rovia:

• INR-denominated interface — track portfolio value in rupees natively
• Simplified India-specific tax reporting (STCG/LTCG calculations pre-computed)
• Streamlined repatriation to Indian bank accounts
• Clean mobile app for monitoring and sell-order placement

Transfer process from Fidelity to Rovia:

1. Open a Rovia account and complete KYC
2. In Rovia: initiate an inbound ACATS transfer from Fidelity (provide your Fidelity/NFS account number)
3. Select NOW lots; processing: 3–7 business days
4. No capital gains event on transfer; cost basis transfers with the shares

Schedule FA when using Rovia: Custodian entity is Alpaca Securities LLC, 420 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA. Use Alpaca's address (not Rovia's India entity) for Schedule FA Table A2, since Alpaca is the US broker-dealer holding the securities.

Rovia vs IBKR: Rovia has a simpler UX and India-native reporting but a narrower product set. IBKR has deeper functionality — options, bonds, UCITS ETF trading — useful for managing a larger portfolio post-liquidation. Many ServiceNow employees use Rovia for NOW share management and IBKR for reinvested capital in UCITS ETFs.

LTCG planning for NOW holders

At $900–$1,000/share, the tax difference between STCG (30%+ slab) and LTCG (12.5%) is enormous:

Example: 20 shares vested at $400 (2022 trough), now trading at $950.

• Gain per share: $550 × ₹84 = ₹46,200
• Total gain: 20 × ₹46,200 = ₹9.24 lakh
• STCG at 30%: ₹2.77 lakh tax
• LTCG at 12.5%: ₹1.155 lakh tax
• Saving by waiting for LTCG eligibility: ₹1.615 lakh on just 20 shares

Lot management strategy:

1. LTCG-eligible lots first — any vest ≥24 months old; sell these at 12.5%
2. High-basis LTCG lots second — within LTCG lots, sell those with highest cost basis to minimise gain
3. STCG lots last — avoid selling recent vests (< 24 months) unless you need liquidity urgently
4. Tax-loss harvest on underwater STCG lots — if any recent vests have fallen below cost basis, sell to realise the loss; repurchase same day (no wash sale rule for Indian investors)

Lot selection in Fidelity: When placing a sell order in NetBenefits, select "Specify Lots." If you've transferred to IBKR or Rovia, both platforms also support lot-level sell orders.

Managing NOW concentration: the diversification case

ServiceNow is an excellent business — but concentration in a single stock at any price is a risk.

Concentration risk factors specific to NOW:

• Premium valuation (P/E typically 50–80×) — any slowdown in subscription growth is harshly punished
• AI narrative risk: Now Assist is central to the bull case; if AI-driven workflow automation stalls or Salesforce/Microsoft capture the space, the multiple compresses
• Single-customer concentration: large government and enterprise contracts; any high-profile cancellation or renewal miss moves the stock
• Currency risk: USD-denominated asset, INR-denominated needs

Systematic sell discipline: For most employees, selling at least 50% of vested shares at or shortly after vest is a reasonable policy. This locks in the perquisite value (already taxed), starts the LTCG clock on the held portion, and prevents the emotional difficulty of watching a large accumulated position decline.

What to buy after selling NOW:

• UCITS ETFs (CSPX, VWRA, EQQQ): Ireland-domiciled, no US estate tax, 15% WHT at fund level for US dividends. Best for long-term compounding.
• Indian equity index funds (Nifty 50, Nifty Next 50): Rebalances India allocation; benefits from rupee appreciation; no foreign account complexity.
• Avoid buying more US individual stocks: Extends estate tax footprint and re-concentrates in single names.

Advance tax planning for quarterly vests

ServiceNow's vest dates (March 1, June 1, September 1, December 1) align closely with advance tax deadlines — making estimation easier than companies with mid-quarter vests:

NOW-specific challenge: At $950/share, a quarterly vest of 20 shares creates ₹15.96L of perquisite income in a single event. If advance tax is not pre-paid, the 234B/234C penal interest is 1%/month on the underpayment — on a ₹4.5L tax liability from one event, that's ₹4,500/month in interest.

Practical tip: After each vest (March, June, September, December), compute the perquisite using Fidelity's reported FMV and pay advance tax within 2 weeks. Don't wait for the next quarterly deadline.

Schedule FA for ServiceNow shareholders

Table A2 in ITR-2 Schedule FA:

At NOW's current prices (~$950/share): Holding 100 shares creates ~₹79.8 lakh in Schedule FA peak value. Holding 300 shares: ~₹2.39 crore. Non-disclosure penalties for foreign assets are ₹10 lakh flat under the Black Money Act — file Schedule FA every year you hold NOW shares on December 31, even if you didn't sell.

If you transfer mid-year (e.g., Fidelity to Rovia in April): Disclose the NFS account with peak value as of the transfer date and closing value of ₹0 (since shares left). Disclose the Rovia/Alpaca account with the peak value for the rest of the year and Dec 31 closing value.

US estate tax

NOW shares held in Fidelity, IBKR, or Rovia (all US brokers holding US-listed securities) are US-situs assets subject to US estate tax for non-resident aliens (NRAs).

At $950/share and 200 accumulated shares: ($190,000 − $60,000 NRA exemption) × 40% = $52,000 in US estate tax exposure.

The high per-share price of NOW means the $60,000 exemption threshold is crossed with just 64 shares. After selling NOW, reinvest in UCITS ETFs (CSPX, VWRA) — Ireland-domiciled, outside US estate tax scope — to eliminate this exposure on reinvested capital.

Worked example: tax across a full vest year

Profile: IC3 staff engineer, 3 active grant cycles. Quarterly vest = 5 shares per grant × 3 grants = 15 shares per quarter. Annual vest: 60 shares.

Assumptions: NOW price = $950 at all vest dates (simplified); SBI TTBR = ₹84; slab rate = 30%.

This ₹47.88 lakh is salary income — on top of base salary. If base CTC is ₹40L, total income is ~₹88L, which pushes into surcharge territory (10% surcharge on ₹50L–₹1Cr). Plan accordingly.

Capital gains (if 15 LTCG-eligible shares sold at $950, cost basis $400):

• Gain: 15 × ($950 − $400) × ₹84 = 15 × ₹46,200 = ₹6,93,000
• LTCG tax at 12.5%: ₹86,625

Compensation by level

ServiceNow India (Hyderabad) works on platform engineering, Now Assist (AI), workflow automation products, Creator platform, and shared services including finance and GTM operations.

ServiceNow India is among the better-compensating employers in Hyderabad, with RSU grants that are competitive with Bangalore-based companies. The Hyderabad office has expanded significantly since 2020 — from a few hundred to several thousand engineers — and NOW's stock appreciation has made long-tenure employees substantial beneficiaries.

Annual refresh grants at ServiceNow are typically 20–30% of the new-hire grant value, depending on performance. After 3–4 years, most employees are running 3–4 active grant cycles simultaneously, creating complex multi-lot tax situations at each quarterly vest.

Related reading

• How RSU double-taxation works — the three tax events: vest, sale, repatriation
• Schedule FA complete guide — foreign asset disclosure field by field
• ITR-2 walkthrough for RSU holders — complete ITR-2 filing guide
• LTCG and STCG loss offset matrix — how to use capital losses against NOW gains
• How to repatriate US stock proceeds to India — FEMA, SWIFT, and the tax picture
• Tax-loss harvesting calendar — using STCG losses to offset NOW gains
• New tax regime vs old regime for RSU holders — which regime saves more at high RSU income

For other employer RSU guides: Adobe · AMD · ARM · Broadcom · Cisco · Fortinet · Google · NVIDIA · Palo Alto Networks · Qualcomm · Salesforce · Workday