Updated July 28, 2026. Quick answer: Vested shares are yours and stay yours. Unvested RSUs are almost always forfeited on your last day. Anything that vested while you were employed was already taxed as ordinary income, and that does not reverse.
The line is the vest date, not the termination date
RSUs are a promise to deliver shares if you are still there on a date. Cross that date and the shares are ordinary income and yours to keep. Miss it and, in almost every plan, the units simply disappear — there is nothing to buy and nothing to exercise.
The tax does not follow the shares back
Income recognised on a vest that already happened is done. Forfeiting later unvested units does not generate a deduction or a refund of tax you paid on earlier vests.
Read your grant agreement for a post-termination vesting window and for treatment on layoff versus resignation. Some plans accelerate on a change of control or on involuntary termination; most do not on a voluntary exit.
The trap in a January departure
Leaving shortly before a large vest is the most expensive timing mistake in equity compensation, and it is invisible on a salary comparison. Price the forfeited vest before you decide a start date.
Questions to answer from the grant agreement, not from HR
- Is there a post-termination vesting window, and does it differ for layoff versus resignation?
- Do any units accelerate on a change of control, and is that single or double trigger?
- Is there a clawback provision tied to competing or soliciting?
- What happens to shares already delivered — can the company repurchase them?
Deferred and unusual structures
Some plans settle vested units on a delayed schedule rather than at vest, which means income can land after you have left. Others hold shares in an account you must actively transfer out. Neither is common, both are easy to lose track of, and the tax reporting arrives regardless.
Sources
IRC §83(a) (property transferred in connection with services); Treas. Reg. §1.83-1.
This states what the cited authority says. It is not tax advice, and equity compensation interacts with the rest of your return in ways a single page cannot see.