Is the first day of the offering period always the same as the "grant date" in the context of employee stock purchase plans (ESPP) in the United States?
Motivation to ask the question:
I'm asking as I read on https://blog.wealthfront.com/good-espp-no-brainer (mirror) :
Unlike a 401(k), your contributions to the ESPP are taxed at ordinary income rates. If you hold your shares for more than a year after the purchase date AND more than two years after the beginning of the offering period then any profit above the gain from the discount will be taxed at [long-term] capital gains tax rates.
but the financial institution (namely, E-Trade) that manages the ESPP I am looking at only displays the "grant date" in their ESPP section (https://us.etrade.com/etx/sp/stockplan/#/holdings) and doesn't mention any first day of the offering period , from what I can see. The answer to the question would be useful to make sure to wait two years after the beginning of the offering period so that any gain is taxed at capital gains tax rates.
Screenshot from https://us.etrade.com/etx/sp/stockplan/#/holdings:
I have crossposted the question at: