Long term or short term capital gain on stock option exercise.

[kamikazinator]

Hello - if I bought a OTM call option on 1/31/2019 with an expiration date of 3/31/2019 and exercise to own the underlying stock, is my acquisition date used to calculate long term vs short term capital gains 1/31/2019 or 3/31/2019?  

Similarily, if I buy a OTM call option on 1/31/2019 with a expiration of 2/28/2020 (over one year), what is my LT vs ST treatment of gains under: 1) sell the option on 2/5/2020 and take profits or 2) exercise the option on 2/28/2020 and sell the shares on 3/3/2020. Would that create LT capital gains in both scenarios?

thanks in advance!

[fanfare]

You should refer to IRS Pub 550 where the treatments for these various scenarios are described and you can be sure you are getting the correct answer.