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Capital Gains Tax Estimator

See how a sale is taxed at short-term versus long-term rates, where the 0%, 15% and 20% thresholds fall, and when the 3.8% investment tax applies.

Wages and everything else. It decides which gain bracket you land in.
What you paid, plus commissions and reinvested dividends.
Losses on other sales, plus any carryforward from last year.

Estimated tax on this sale

$2,250
Net gain or loss$15,000
How it is taxed15% bracket
Capital gains tax$2,250
Net investment income tax (3.8%)$0
You keep$12,750
Effective rate on the gain15.0%
0% long-term band ends at taxable income$49,450
15% band ends at$545,500

Federal only. Collectibles, section 1250 depreciation recapture, qualified small business stock and the home sale exclusion follow their own rules and are not modelled here.

How this is calculated

Holding period is the whole game. Sell at a year or less and the gain is stacked on top of your ordinary income and taxed at your normal bracket. Hold longer than a year and it moves to the 0, 15 or 20 percent long-term rates, which are applied to the gain as it sits on top of your other taxable income. That stacking is why a large gain can start in the 0 percent band and finish in the 15.

Losses offset gains first. Up to $3,000 of any excess loss ($1,500 if married filing separately) then comes off ordinary income, and the rest carries forward. The 3.8 percent net investment income tax applies once modified income passes a threshold that has never been adjusted for inflation.

See IRS Topic 409 and the net investment income tax. Wash sales, collectibles, depreciation recapture and the home sale exclusion follow separate rules.