A lot of people around DFW work at AT&T, American Airlines, or Charles Schwab. And many of them get part of their pay in restricted stock units instead of cash.
Between AT&T downtown, American’s campus in Fort Worth, and Schwab’s headquarters in Westlake, that’s tens of thousands of people around DFW getting equity compensation as a normal part of their paycheck. Most of them didn’t set out to become stock market investors. They did their job well, got promoted, and one day found a new equity position sitting in their account.
Getting RSUs isn’t the problem. What happens next is where things tend to go wrong.
What Actually Happens When RSUs Vest
RSUs vest on a schedule set at grant, often over three or four years, sometimes annually and sometimes quarterly. On the vesting date, the shares become yours, and their full market value that day counts as ordinary income. It shows up on your W-2 the same as a bonus would.
That’s true whether you sell the shares the same day or hold them for ten years. The income tax hit happens at vest. Anything that happens to the stock price after that is a separate question, one involving capital gains rather than wages.
Some employees at these companies also have stock options or an ESPP alongside RSUs. Those are taxed under different rules entirely, so it’s worth understanding each piece of your equity compensation on its own terms rather than treating it all the same.
Most people understand that part in theory. Where it gets complicated is what your employer actually withholds versus what you actually owe.
The Withholding Gap
Here’s the part that catches people. Your employer has to withhold federal tax at vest, but not necessarily at your real marginal rate. For most employees, that means a flat rate, the IRS’s optional flat rate for supplemental wages of 22%, regardless of your actual bracket. That rate has a ceiling, though: once your combined supplemental wages (bonuses, commissions, and RSU income together) cross $1 million in a calendar year, withholding on the amount above that is mandatory at 37%, not 22%.
For a lot of people at AT&T, American, and Schwab, 22% isn’t their real bracket. If your household income puts you in the 32%, 35%, or 37% bracket, that flat withholding falls short, and the gap sits there quietly until you file. The gap is largest for grants well under the $1 million mark; once a single year’s vesting pushes past that threshold, the mandatory 37% withholding on the excess starts closing the gap rather than widening it.
A recent 24/7 Wall St. analysis put a real number on it: an employee vesting $300,000 in RSUs who’s actually in the 35% or 37% bracket can owe an additional $45,000 to $75,000 at tax time, on top of what was already withheld. That scales down proportionally for smaller grants too, but the shape of the problem doesn’t change.
That assumption, that the withholding at vest covers the actual tax bill, is the most common one. It’s also the wrong one.
Here’s what that gap actually looks like by bracket, on every $50,000 of RSUs that vest in a year, well under the $1 million threshold:
| Your Real Marginal Bracket | What Gets Withheld at Vest | The Gap | Shortfall per $50,000 Vested |
| 24% | 22% | 2 pts | $1,000 |
| 32% | 22% | 10 pts | $5,000 |
| 35% | 22% | 13 pts | $6,500 |
| 37% | 22% | 15 pts | $7,500 |
Simplified illustration assuming the vested income is taxed at your top marginal rate and total supplemental wages for the year stay under the $1 million mandatory-37%-withholding threshold. Actual shortfall depends on your full tax picture, including state taxes (Texas has none), the net investment income tax, and any other income in the same year.
Senior officers, long-tenured pilots, and Schwab employees with larger annual grants are the ones most likely to approach or cross that $1 million threshold in a single year, which makes it worth tracking closely rather than assuming the same flat 22% applies no matter the size of the grant.
The fix takes a little planning, not a lot: know the value and timing of every vest for the year, run a real projection of tax owed versus withheld before it happens, and make an estimated payment or adjust withholding elsewhere to close the gap. Don’t assume the number on your pay stub is the number you’ll owe.
Sell vs. Hold at Vest
Once shares vest, they’re taxed. That part is done. What you do with the shares from there is a separate decision, and it deserves to be treated that way.
Here’s a useful way to frame it: if your employer handed you $40,000 in cash today and asked whether you wanted to put all of it into more of their stock, would you? Most people, asked directly, say no. But holding vested RSUs is exactly that decision, made by default instead of on purpose.
There’s nothing wrong with holding shares if you have real conviction in the company and it fits your plan. The issue is holding because selling feels like extra effort, or because it feels disloyal.
If you do hold, the holding period for long-term capital gains treatment starts at vest, not at grant. That wait can be worth something real. Here’s what that looks like for someone vesting $100,000 in RSUs that grow to $130,000, a $30,000 gain, holding at least 13 months versus selling right away:
| Approach | Tax Treatment | Rate Applied | Tax on $30,000 Gain |
| Sell Immediately at Vest | Short-term capital gain (taxed as ordinary income) | Top ordinary bracket (e.g., 37%) | ~$11,100 |
| Hold 13+ Months | Long-term capital gain | Lower LTCG bracket (15% or 20% federal) | ~$4,500 |
The gap versus ordinary rates still generally favors patience, if you’re comfortable carrying the concentration risk in the meantime. In practice, the most common middle ground is selling enough at vest to cover any remaining tax liability and diversify part of the position, then holding the rest on purpose.
Concentration Risk Is Bigger Than It Looks
AT&T, American Airlines, and Schwab employees each carry a slightly different version of the same risk.
AT&T carries a heavy debt load and a stock price that’s historically sensitive to interest rates and dividend expectations. American operates in one of the most cyclical, fuel-cost-sensitive industries there is, and airline stocks move sharply on news that has nothing to do with how well any one employee did their job. Schwab’s business is tied closely to markets, rates, and trading volume, so its stock swings with the same forces that move client portfolios.
Layer on top of that the fact that many employees also hold employer stock inside a 401(k) or an ESPP, and it’s easy to end up with a much bigger stake in one company than anyone would deliberately choose. Your paycheck, your equity comp, and often your retirement savings all tied to the same employer’s fortunes.
A reasonable rule of thumb: keep any single stock, including your employer’s, under 5% to 10% of your investable portfolio. If RSUs, ESPP shares, and 401(k) holdings in employer stock add up to more than that, it’s worth a deliberate conversation about trimming, even when the stock has done well.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Picture a mid-career employee at one of these DFW employers, a few years into steady promotions and a growing equity grant. Each year, more RSUs vest, the paycheck grows, and the employer stock position quietly grows alongside it. Nothing about that is unusual, or a mistake. But left unmanaged long enough, that person ends up with a tax surprise every spring and a much bigger bet on one company’s stock than they ever meant to make.
The fix isn’t dramatic. Review the vesting schedule once a year. Decide on purpose what to do with each batch of shares as it vests. Keep an eye on how much of the total picture sits with one employer. Small, consistent decisions beat one big correction made under pressure.
Final Thoughts
None of this is about predicting where AT&T, American, or Schwab stock is headed next. It’s about not letting equity compensation default into a tax bill, or a concentration risk, you never actually chose.
If you’re vesting RSUs at one of these companies and you don’t have a clear answer for what your withholding gap looks like, whether to sell or hold at your next vest, or how much of your net worth is really tied to your employer, that’s worth talking through before the next vesting date, not after. If you have RSUs vesting at AT&T, American Airlines, Schwab, or another DFW employer, schedule a 15-minute intro call. The best time to plan