Capital Gains Tax Calculator
Estimate taxes on your investment profits. Compare short-term vs. long-term rates.
Asset Details
Original price + fees/commissions.
Your Tax Profile
Your regular income determines your tax bracket.
Estimated Tax Owed
$750
Tax Rate Applied: 15.0%
Capital Gains Summary
* This calculator provides an estimate for Federal Capital Gains Tax. It does not include State taxes, Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT), or real estate specific exemptions (like the primary home exclusion).
How this calculator works
- Assets held one year or less are treated as short-term gains and taxed at ordinary income rates; assets held longer than one year qualify for long-term capital gains rates.
- Long-term rates depend on your filing status and taxable income bracket, as published by the IRS.
- All math runs in your browser — no data is sent to or stored on a server.
The Golden Rule of Investing: Hold for 1 Year
The IRS heavily incentivizes long-term investing. If you buy a stock, crypto, or property and sell it within 365 days, your profit is added to your regular paycheck and taxed at your highest ordinary income bracket (up to 37%). But if you wait just one day past the 1-year mark, your tax rate drops dramatically to 0%, 15%, or 20%.
Long-Term Capital Gains Tax Brackets (2025/2026)
| Tax Rate | Single Filer Income | Married Filing Jointly Income |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0 to $48,350 | $0 to $96,700 |
| 15% | $48,351 to $533,400 | $96,701 to $600,050 |
| 20% | Over $533,400 | Over $600,050 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Short-term capital gains apply to assets held for one year or less and are taxed at your ordinary income tax rate (up to 37%). Long-term capital gains apply to assets held for more than one year and benefit from significantly lower tax rates (0%, 15%, or 20%).
The most common way is to hold your assets for more than a year. If your total income is low enough, your long-term capital gains tax rate could be 0%. For real estate, you can exclude up to $250,000 (Single) or $500,000 (Married) of gain if the property was your primary residence for at least 2 of the last 5 years.
Tax-loss harvesting is a strategy where you sell losing investments to offset the gains from winning investments. You can use capital losses to offset capital gains, and if your losses exceed your gains, you can use up to $3,000 of those losses to offset your ordinary income each year.