Microsoft Employee Benefits

Key Dates

We have outlined the key dates concerning benefits. Click the button below to view timeline.

Microsoft New Hire Compensation

There are a few different ways that Microsoft employees are compensated; base salary, annual cash bonuses, on-hire cash bonus, and stock awards (on-hire and annual).

Base salary: This is very straight-forward, you receive a base salary which is paid out twice each month.

Annual cash bonus: Annual cash bonuses are paid out in September of each year; these typically range between zero and 40% of eligible salary but can go higher.

On-hire cash bonus: If you recently joined Microsoft, you may have also received an on-hire cash bonus. These bonuses are typically paid out within the first 30-60 days of employment. On some occasions, these bonuses can be split into two separate payments.

Stock Awards: There are two main different types of stock awards: On-hire stock award and Annual stock award. More than likely each of these types of awards will have their own vesting schedule

Stock Awards

Restricted Stock Units

For many employees, stock awards can be a significant portion of total compensation. You may receive these awards upon being hired, as a part of your annual compensation package, or as a special award. These awards come in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). These RSUs become available to you as they vest over time. As the stock shares vest, you are taxed at ordinary income tax rates based on the total value of the vesting shares of stock.

Microsoft directs your custodian to sell some of the vesting shares in order to withhold funds for taxes. This amount is sent to the IRS on your behalf. As a result, you will only receive a portion of the shares that have vested in your brokerage account. If shares are held for over a year after they vest, any potential gains from the time the shares have vested will get preferential long-term capital gains tax treatment. However, there is nothing that can be done to defer the taxable income generated by vesting shares of stock.

Most RSUs vest every three months starting in February (which you can remember using the acronym FMAN: February, May, August, November). These stocks vest at the end of each month. Microsoft’s Review awards (similar to “Refresher” awards at other companies) follow this schedule. Eligible employees may receive Special Stock Awards /Leadership Awards. The vesting schedule for these shares vary from other RSUs you receive. These awards vest mid-month in March-June-September-December.

Typically, employees let their stock grants accumulate in their investment accounts while covering expenses through their salaries. We encourage you to flip this thinking. By living off of vesting shares of stock, you gain cash-flow flexibility and can then take advantage of the many tax-preferred benefits available to you. Restricted Stock Units vest multiple times per year and vary significantly in amount each time. We can work with you to organize and plan your cash flows in order to implement many of these tax-saving strategies.

401(k) Plan

Contribution Matching

Microsoft matches 50 percent of contributions that you make into your 401(k) account. The total amount you can contribute annually is $19,500, so when you do the math, this is a lot of free money that is available to you: $9,750, to be exact. We encourage you to make the most of this by maxing out your 401(k) contributions before utilizing any other benefits available to you. There is no vesting period for Microsoft’s matching contributions. Employees can contribute up to 65% of their compensation to their 401k.

After-Tax Roth Conversion (Mega Backdoor Roth Conversion)

BrokerageLink is one of the investment options offered within your Microsoft 401(k) plan. This option gives you access to thousands of additional mutual funds not available within the standard plan, including funds managed by Vanguard, PIMCO and Eaton Vance. Why does this matter? For starters, it allows you to invest in asset classes that would otherwise be unavailable to you. This increases diversification, which may potentially create opportunities to increase the value of your long-term returns.

Taxable Income Reduction and Tax Savings

Available to Microsoft employees who are Level 67 or higher, the Microsoft Deferred Compensation Plan allows you to reduce your tax bill by significantly minimizing the amount of taxable income. It works similarly to a pre-tax 401(k) plan, and any dollars you contribute can then be invested for growth and used down the road during your retirement. If you are eligible for this benefit, you can defer up to 75 percent of your salary and a full 100 percent of your cash bonus. This has the potential to reduce your tax bill by tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes each year.