Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: Nothing changed for you. Stock issued on or before 4 July 2025 keeps the $10,000,000 cap, the $50,000,000 gross-assets test, and the original all-or-nothing rule: 100% at five years, nothing before it.
Why this page exists
Because most QSBS held today is pre-July-2025 stock, and a wave of coverage published since the amendment describes the new rules without saying who they apply to. If you read that a three-year hold now gets 50%, and your stock was issued in 2022, that is not your rule.
What still applies to you
| Feature | Your rule |
|---|---|
| Per-issuer cap | $10,000,000 or 10× basis, whichever is greater |
| Gross assets at issuance | $50,000,000 |
| Exclusion before 5 years | None. Zero. |
| Exclusion at 5 years | 100% |
The five-year cliff is absolute under your regime. A sale one day early excludes nothing at all — the tiered relief that softens this for newer stock does not reach back to you.
If you hold blocks from both sides of the date
Each block is tested on its own issuance date, and the caps are per issuer rather than per block. Holding pre- and post-amendment stock in the same company is a genuinely complicated position and is worth professional help before any sale.
Sources
IRC §1202(a)(5) (tiered exclusion); IRC §1202(b)(1) (10x basis alternative); new IRC §1202(b)(4) ($15,000,000 cap and inflation indexing from 2027); One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted 4 July 2025. Cross-checked against professional analyses from The Tax Adviser (AICPA), Baker Tilly, Holland & Knight, K&L Gates, Mintz, Davis Wright Tremaine and Grant Thornton, July–November 2025.
This states what the cited authority says. It is not tax advice, and Section 1202 qualification turns on facts about the issuing company that no page can verify for you.