Reference
Amazon employee money guides
This is the index for everything on this site about money at Amazon: the RSU vesting schedule and its tax consequences, the 401(k) match and its three-year cliff, the sign-on bonus that replaces an annual cash bonus, health plans and the HSA, and what to do with vested shares. Start with the quick-facts table, then follow the links to the guide that answers your question.
Amazon quick facts
| Item | What Amazon does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Equity type | Restricted stock units, Amazon's primary form of stock compensation since 2002; no stock options for employees in practice | 2025 proxy statement |
| New-hire vesting schedule | Back-loaded over four years; reported as 5% after year one, 15% after year two, then 20% every six months (Amazon publishes only "vest over time, in accordance with plan documents") | myStockOptions (reported); amazon.jobs |
| Stock plan administrator | Morgan Stanley at Work, with a linked E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley brokerage account; sell-to-cover is the default tax method | Morgan Stanley guide for Amazon |
| Cash bonus structure | No annual cash bonus program; new hires receive a sign-on bonus paid in installments on a schedule set in the offer letter | 2025 proxy; amazon.jobs |
| ESPP | None | Proxy equity plan table lists only the 1997 Stock Incentive Plan and 1999 Nonofficer Employee Stock Option Plan |
| 401(k) match | $0.50 per $1 on the first 4% of eligible pay, so up to 2% of pay; catch-up contributions not matched | amazon.jobs |
| 401(k) match vesting | Cliff after three years of vesting service (a calendar year with 1,000 hours) | amazon.jobs |
| 401(k) recordkeeper and contribution types | Fidelity; pre-tax, Roth, and traditional after-tax contributions from 1% to 90% of pay | amazon.jobs |
| Health plans | Multiple designs including a Health Savings Plan with an HSA that receives employer contributions; networks include Aetna, Cigna, Premera, Kaiser | aboutamazon.com |
| Parental leave | Up to 20 weeks paid for birthing parents; six weeks for other parents after one year of service; Leave Share and Ramp Back programs | aboutamazon.com |
The full benefits walkthrough
Understanding Amazon employee benefits: a comprehensive guide is the long-form overview. It covers base pay and the sign-on bonus, how RSUs are taxed at vest and why the 22% default withholding falls short, the absence of an ESPP, the 401(k) match formula and cliff, the after-tax 401(k) option, medical plan networks and the HSA with the 2026 IRS limits, parental leave and Ramp Back, adoption and fertility benefits through Maven, Career Choice, the employee discount, and company-paid life and disability insurance. If you read one page, read that one.
RSU vesting schedule and taxes
What is Amazon's RSU vesting schedule and how are Amazon RSUs taxed? goes deep on the back-loaded schedule: why year three is a tax cliff, how the vest-date value becomes W-2 income and your cost basis, how sell-to-cover works, and how to estimate the gap between what Morgan Stanley withholds and what you owe. It pairs with our general RSU taxes guide for tech employees, which explains the supplemental wage withholding rules (22%, and 37% above $1 million in a year, per IRS Publication 15) that apply to every vest.
What to do with vested shares
Amazon RSUs and your options for building wealth starts by clearing up a common search: Amazon grants RSUs, not stock options, and the two are taxed differently. It then works through the decisions that follow a vest: the sell-at-vest default and why it costs almost nothing in extra tax, concentration risk when your salary and unvested grants already depend on the same company, tracking tax lots and cost basis, diversification routes (index funds, exchange funds, donor-advised funds for appreciated shares), Rule 10b5-1 plans for employees subject to trading windows, and how Amazon's own insider trading guidelines define blackout periods around earnings.
The Amazon 401(k)
The comprehensive guide to your Amazon 401(k) covers the match, the three-year cliff, pre-tax versus Roth deferrals, the investment menu, and the after-tax contribution space that makes a mega-backdoor Roth possible. The 2026 IRS figures that matter: the employee deferral limit is $24,500, the catch-up for age 50 and over is $8,000, and the overall limit on all contributions under section 415(c) is $72,000 (IRS; Notice 2025-67). High earners with large vests should also read specialized financial planning for high earners.
Calculators
- RSU vesting schedule calculator, Amazon preset: loads the reported 5/15/40/40 schedule so you can see how much of a grant vests in each year and how refresh grants stack.
- RSU tax calculator: estimates the tax on a vest and the shortfall versus 22% withholding.
- Mega-backdoor Roth calculator: shows the after-tax 401(k) room left after your deferrals and the Amazon match.
Bottom line. Amazon's package is base salary, a two-year sign-on, back-loaded RSUs, a 2% 401(k) match with a three-year cliff, and no ESPP or annual bonus. The money decisions that matter most are planning for the year-three RSU tax jump, deciding in advance whether to sell at vest, capturing the full match every paycheck, and using the after-tax 401(k) space if you can.
Amazon changes plan terms by benefit year and grant terms by offer. Treat these guides as orientation, and verify your own vesting schedule in the Morgan Stanley at Work portal, your 401(k) terms at Fidelity, plan designs in the official Amazon benefits overview, and the current year's limits on irs.gov before you act.