{"tool":{"slug":"capital-gains","name":"Capital gains tax calculator","version":"2026-08-22","canonicalUrl":"https://carlo.finance/tools/capital-gains","jsonUrl":"https://carlo.finance/tools/capital-gains.json","pageUrl":"https://carlo.finance/tools/capital-gains","parameters":[{"key":"gain","label":"Capital gain","unit":"usd","min":0,"max":100000000,"default":50000,"sourceId":null,"help":"Your profit on the sale: the price you sold for, minus what you paid for it, minus commissions and selling costs. Not the sale price and not the account balance."},{"key":"income","label":"Other income","unit":"usd-per-year","min":0,"max":100000000,"default":60000,"sourceId":null,"help":"Everything else you earn in the same calendar year, entered as wages, before any deduction. The gain sits on top of this, so it decides which rate the gain is charged at."},{"key":"losses","label":"Capital loss carryover","unit":"usd","min":0,"max":100000000,"default":0,"sourceId":null,"help":"Losses carried in from a prior year's Schedule D. They cancel this gain dollar for dollar, and up to $3,000 of anything left over comes off your other income."}],"options":[{"key":"holding","label":"Holding period","options":[{"value":"long","label":"Held more than a year"},{"value":"short","label":"Held a year or less"}],"default":"long","sourceId":null,"help":"More than one year from the day after you bought to the day you sold is long-term, and gets the 0/15/20 rates. A year or less is short-term and is taxed like salary."},{"key":"status","label":"Filing status","options":[{"value":"single","label":"Single"},{"value":"married-joint","label":"Married filing jointly"},{"value":"married-separate","label":"Married filing separately"},{"value":"head-of-household","label":"Head of household"},{"value":"qualifying-surviving-spouse","label":"Qualifying surviving spouse"}],"default":"single","sourceId":null,"help":"Your status on the last day of the year. It sets the standard deduction, the breakpoints where each capital gain rate starts, and the income where the 3.8% surtax begins."}]},"taxYear":2025,"inputs":{"gain":50000,"income":60000,"losses":0,"holding":"long","status":"single"},"result":{"gainTax":6885,"afterTaxProceeds":43115,"effectiveRate":13.77,"marginalRate":15,"parts":{"rateTax":6885,"niit":0,"amt":0},"taxableGain":50000,"lossApplied":0,"ordinaryOffset":0,"lossCarryforward":0,"bands":[{"key":"zero","rate":0,"label":"Taxed at 0%","amount":4100,"tax":0},{"key":"fifteen","rate":0.15,"label":"Taxed at 15%","amount":45900,"tax":6885},{"key":"twenty","rate":0.2,"label":"Taxed at 20%","amount":0,"tax":0}],"headroom":{"rate":0.15,"amount":439150},"totalTax":11960,"totalTaxWithoutSale":5075,"taxableIncome":94250,"ordinaryTaxableIncome":44250,"standardDeduction":15750,"zeroRateBreakpoint":48350,"fifteenRateBreakpoint":533400,"magi":110000,"niitThreshold":200000,"split":{"taxIfSplit":6270,"saving":615},"walk":[{"key":"gain","marker":"","label":"Capital gain on the sale","amount":50000},{"key":"taxable-gain","marker":"W4","label":"Gain taxed at capital gain rates","amount":50000,"emphasis":true},{"key":"ordinary","marker":"W5","label":"Your other income, after the standard deduction","amount":44250},{"key":"zero-cap","marker":"W6","label":"Taxable income where the 0% rate ends","amount":48350},{"key":"band-zero","marker":"","label":"Gain in the 0% band","amount":4100},{"key":"band-fifteen","marker":"","label":"Gain in the 15% band","amount":45900},{"key":"band-twenty","marker":"","label":"Gain in the 20% band","amount":0},{"key":"rate-tax","marker":"16","label":"Income tax at the capital gain rates","amount":6885},{"key":"niit","marker":"8960","label":"Net investment income tax at 3.8%","amount":0},{"key":"total","marker":"","label":"Federal tax the sale causes","amount":6885,"emphasis":true}],"computability":{"status":"final","fileReady":true,"blocking":[]}},"drivers":[{"key":"holding","label":"Holding period","step":1,"taxDelta":3695,"sentence":"Selling this a year or less after you bought it would cost $10,580 instead of $6,885, so holding past the one-year mark is worth $3,695 here."},{"key":"gain","label":"Capital gain","step":10000,"taxDelta":1500,"sentence":"Another $10,000 of gain adds $1,500 of federal tax, so you keep $8,500 of it."},{"key":"income","label":"Other income","step":25000,"taxDelta":615,"sentence":"Earning $25,000 more in the same year raises the tax on this same sale to $7,500, $615 more, because the gain stacks on top of that income and part of it crosses into a higher band."}],"sensitivity":{"byGain":[{"gain":13000,"gainTax":1335,"effectiveRate":10.27,"afterTax":11665},{"gain":25000,"gainTax":3135,"effectiveRate":12.54,"afterTax":21865},{"gain":50000,"gainTax":6885,"effectiveRate":13.77,"afterTax":43115},{"gain":100000,"gainTax":14385,"effectiveRate":14.39,"afterTax":85615},{"gain":200000,"gainTax":31665,"effectiveRate":15.83,"afterTax":168335}],"byStatus":[{"status":"single","label":"Single","gainTax":6885},{"status":"married-joint","label":"Married filing jointly","gainTax":0},{"status":"married-separate","label":"Married filing separately","gainTax":6885},{"status":"head-of-household","label":"Head of household","gainTax":3243.75},{"status":"qualifying-surviving-spouse","label":"Qualifying surviving spouse","gainTax":0}],"byHolding":[{"holding":"long","label":"Held more than a year","gainTax":6885},{"holding":"short","label":"Held a year or less","gainTax":10580}]},"assumptions":[{"key":"gain","label":"Capital gain","value":50000,"unit":"usd","provided":false,"source":null},{"key":"income","label":"Other income","value":60000,"unit":"usd-per-year","provided":false,"source":null},{"key":"losses","label":"Capital loss carryover","value":0,"unit":"usd","provided":false,"source":null},{"key":"holding","label":"Holding period","value":"long","unit":"choice","provided":false,"source":null},{"key":"status","label":"Filing status","value":"single","unit":"choice","provided":false,"source":null}],"sources":[{"id":"rev-proc-2024-40","name":"IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40 (2025 inflation-adjusted items)","url":"https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-24-40.pdf","asOf":"2025-01-01","note":"Section 2.03 sets the taxable-income breakpoints where the 0%, 15%, and 20% capital gain rates start for 2025, and section 2.01 sets the ordinary rate tables a short-term gain is charged at."},{"id":"pl-119-21-obbba","name":"One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21)","url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-119publ21","asOf":"2025-07-04","note":"The statute that sets the current standard deduction, which is subtracted before any of the capital gain bands are measured for 2025."},{"id":"usc-title-26","name":"26 U.S.C. (Internal Revenue Code)","url":"https://uscode.house.gov/browse/prelim@title26","asOf":"2025-01-01","note":"The sections this calculation implements: § 1(h) the 0/15/20 rates on net capital gain, § 1222 the more-than-one-year holding period, § 1211(b) and § 1212(b) the capital loss limit and carryforward, § 1411 the 3.8% net investment income tax, and § 55 the alternative minimum tax."},{"id":"irs-topic-409","name":"IRS Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses","url":"https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409","asOf":"2025-01-01","note":"The IRS statement of the one-year holding period, the 0/15/20 rate structure, the 28% collectibles and 25% unrecaptured section 1250 rates this tool does not model, and the $3,000 annual limit on deducting net capital losses against other income."}],"warnings":[{"code":"band-headroom","message":"You have $439,150 of room left at 15% before the rate on the next dollar of gain steps up to 20%. Realizing more than that this year costs the higher rate on the excess."},{"code":"split-saves","message":"Selling half this year and half next year would cost $6,270 instead of $6,885, a saving of $615, because the second year gets its own run at the lower bands. That assumes the same other income and the same law both years, and the breakpoints do move with inflation."}],"disclaimer":"This computes the federal tax that one sale of a capital asset causes in tax year 2025, against wage income and the standard deduction. It leaves out state and local tax, the 28% rate on collectibles and the 25% rate on unrecaptured section 1250 real estate gain, the section 1202 qualified small business stock exclusion, the section 121 home-sale exclusion, section 1031 exchanges, wash sales, installment sales, and Schedule D netting across holding periods, so it is not your return and not tax advice. Check anything that matters against your own filing."}