Shouldn't the strike of the options make them worthless at grant time? I was under the impression that the 83b election is awesome because it basically gives you tax free grants.
But as the stock vests, isnt that treated as income and taxed anyway? And then taxed again if I sell (as capital gains)?
If so then it comes down to a gamble of whether the stock is going to go up by the time the stock vests and whether you happen to have the spare cash around to pay a tax bill.
Am i reading that right?
The other thing to consider is your vesting timeline. As you vest, you'll owe additional taxes, which means a sizable tax bill before there's been a liquidity event. If you are rich enough to afford that then hey, go for it. But not everyone is in a position to be able to do that.
You need an 83b if you think the stock will vest before you can sell it. Imagine having $10M of stock vest, no option to sell it, and no way to pay the tax on it.
It is a weird artifact of the way vesting triggers taxation of unrealized gains and it fucks people all the time.