Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Enter what you paid, what you sold for, the two dates, and your other taxable income, and the calculator estimates the federal income tax, 3.8% net investment income tax, and state tax on the sale, then shows what you keep.

Short answer: a gain on something you held for one year or less is taxed at your ordinary income rate (10% to 37%). Hold it more than one year and most gains drop to 0%, 15%, or 20%, with two exceptions: the depreciation slice of a rental property gain is taxed at up to 25%, and collectibles such as gold coins and art are taxed at up to 28%. High earners also owe the 3.8% net investment income tax.

The calculator is for informational purposes only, and its results are estimates; your Form 8949, Schedule D, and Form 4797 decide the real number. For the rules in more depth, read short-term vs long-term capital gains tax rates and the capital gains tax strategies guide. To offset gains with realized losses, use the tax loss harvesting calculator.

What do you enter in the capital gains calculator?

The gain is sale price − (purchase price + improvements − depreciation). Depreciation only counts when the asset type is real estate or business assets, because stocks, crypto, and collectibles are not depreciable.

How long do you have to hold an asset for long-term rates?

More than one year. IRS Publication 544 tells you to start counting on the day after you acquired the property and to include the day you sold it. That means a sale on the one-year anniversary is still short-term; the first long-term day is the day after the anniversary. If you bought on the last day of a month, the first long-term day is the first day of the 13th month after the purchase, so a share bought February 29, 2024 became long-term on March 1, 2025.

The calculator follows the calendar rule rather than counting 365 days. That matters in any 12-month window that includes February 29: a stock bought March 1, 2023 and sold March 1, 2024 was held 366 days but still produced a short-term gain. When a sale is short-term, the results tell you how many more days you would have needed to wait.

Short-term capital gains: taxed as ordinary income

Short-term gains are added to your other income and taxed at the regular brackets. The 2026 brackets come from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32:

Long-term capital gains: 0%, 15%, and 20%

Long-term gains and qualified dividends sit on top of ordinary income and fill these 2026 bands (taxable income including the gain):

If you pick a 2025 sale date, the calculator switches to the 2025 brackets and bands from Rev. Proc. 2024-40.

Worked example: waiting past the one-year mark

A single filer with $100,000 of other taxable income sells stock for a $50,000 gain in 2026.

• Short-term: the gain stacks on the $100,000. $5,700 fills the rest of the 22% bracket ($1,254) and $44,300 lands in the 24% bracket ($10,632): $11,886.
• Long-term: all $50,000 is in the 15% band: $7,500.
• Waiting until the day after the anniversary saves $4,386 in federal income tax.

How is a rental property or business asset taxed when you sell it?

Depreciation you claimed (or could have claimed) reduces your basis, so it comes back as gain when you sell. The calculator splits that gain the way Schedule D and Form 4797 do.

Rental and other real estate (section 1250 property). The part of the gain equal to straight-line depreciation is "unrecaptured section 1250 gain." It is taxed at your ordinary rate but never more than 25% (IRC §1(h)(1)(E)). The rest of the gain gets the 0/15/20% rates. A person in the 22% or 24% bracket pays 22% or 24% on that slice, not a flat 25%.

Business equipment and vehicles (section 1245 property). Gain up to the depreciation taken is ordinary income in full, reported in Form 4797 Part III. Only gain above the original cost is long-term capital gain.

Worked example: selling a rental with depreciation

You bought a rental for $300,000, added a $20,000 roof, claimed $60,000 of depreciation, and sell in 2026 for $400,000. You are single with $150,000 of other taxable income.

1. Adjusted basis: $300,000 + $20,000 − $60,000 = $260,000.
2. Gain: $400,000 − $260,000 = $140,000, of which $60,000 is unrecaptured section 1250 gain and $80,000 is regular long-term gain.
3. The $60,000 slice stacks on the $150,000. $51,775 of it fits under the top of the 24% bracket ($201,775), taxed at 24% = $12,426; the remaining $8,225 hits the 25% cap = $2,056.25.
4. The $80,000 of regular long-term gain is taxed at 15% = $12,000.
5. Federal income tax on the sale: $26,482.25. NIIT adds ($150,000 + $16,100 + $140,000 − $200,000) × 3.8% = $4,031.80.

If the calculator ignored depreciation, it would have shown an $80,000 gain and $12,000 of federal tax, understating the bill by more than half. Use the real estate capital gains calculator when the property was also your home, since it applies the $250,000/$500,000 home sale exclusion, and the 1031 exchange tax calculator to see how much tax a like-kind exchange would defer. The depreciation itself is explained in the MACRS depreciation guide.

What is the tax rate on collectibles?

Long-term gains on collectibles (art, antiques, stamps, most coins and bullion, gems, and wine) are "28% rate gain." They are taxed at your ordinary rate, capped at 28%, and never get the 0% or 15% rates. A single filer with $250,000 of other taxable income who sells gold coins for a $30,000 long-term gain pays $30,000 × 28% = $8,400, compared with $4,500 if the same gain came from stock. A filer in the 12% bracket would pay 12% on a collectibles gain. Short-term collectibles gains are ordinary income like any other.

Cryptocurrency gains

The IRS treats crypto as property, so selling it, swapping one coin for another, or spending it is a sale with a capital gain or loss, and the same short-term and long-term rules apply. For a single lot, including a wallet-to-wallet move that usually is not a sale, use the crypto capital gains tax calculator and read is transferring crypto between wallets taxable. Broker reporting is covered in IRS Form 1099-DA explained.

How does the 3.8% net investment income tax work?

The NIIT is 3.8% of the smaller of your net investment income or the amount by which modified AGI exceeds $200,000 (single and head of household), $250,000 (joint), or $125,000 (separate), per IRS Topic 559. The thresholds are set by statute and are not indexed.

Because the income field asks for taxable income, the calculator estimates MAGI as other taxable income plus the standard deduction for the sale year plus the gain. A single filer with $180,000 of other taxable income and a $100,000 gain in 2026 has estimated MAGI of $180,000 + $16,100 + $100,000 = $296,100, so NIIT is ($296,100 − $200,000) × 3.8% = $3,651.80. If you itemize or have large above-the-line deductions, your real MAGI differs; the NIIT calculator handles that in more detail. Gain on business assets used in a trade you actively run is generally not net investment income, but the calculator includes it to stay conservative.

How does the calculator estimate state tax?

It applies each state's 2026 top individual income tax rate to the whole gain, from the Tax Foundation's 2026 state income tax table, and labels it "top rate, simplified." In states with graduated brackets, most people pay less than the top rate, so the estimate leans high. Local income taxes, such as New York City's, are not included.

Washington's figures come from the Washington Department of Revenue: a $600,000 long-term stock gain owes ($600,000 − $278,000) × 7% = $22,540. Some states exclude part of long-term gains, which the calculator does not model.

Ways to lower the tax on a gain

• Wait for long-term treatment. On a short-term gain, the results show how many days remain until the sale would qualify.
• Harvest losses. Realized losses offset gains dollar for dollar, and up to $3,000 of net loss ($1,500 if married filing separately) offsets ordinary income each year, with the rest carried forward. Buying the same security within 30 days before or after a loss sale triggers the wash sale rule.
• Fill the 0% band. In a low-income year (a sabbatical, early retirement), long-term gains that fit under $49,450 single or $98,900 joint taxable income are taxed at 0%.
• Give appreciated shares instead of cash. Donating stock held more than a year to a public charity generally gives a deduction at market value and avoids the gain.
• Spread a large sale. An installment sale reports gain as payments arrive, which can keep more of it in the 15% band and under the NIIT threshold. Depreciation recapture on business property is still taxed in the year of sale.
• Exchange real estate. A section 1031 exchange defers gain on real property held for business or investment; since 2018 it no longer applies to personal property.
• Hold until death. Heirs generally receive a basis equal to fair market value at death, erasing the built-in gain.

Qualified small business stock (section 1202)

Gain on original-issue C corporation stock can be partly or fully excluded under IRC §1202. For stock acquired after July 4, 2025, the exclusion is 50% after three years, 75% after four, and 100% after five, capped at $15 million per issuer (or 10 times basis), and the company's gross assets can be up to $75 million. Stock acquired earlier keeps the old rules: a five-year hold, a $10 million cap, and a $50 million asset test. The QSBS calculator models the exclusion; this calculator does not.

Opportunity zone funds

Gain reinvested in a qualified opportunity fund under the original rules is deferred only until December 31, 2026 (IRS opportunity zone FAQs), so a 2026 investment defers almost nothing. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the program permanent: for amounts invested after December 31, 2026, deferral runs five years from the investment, the basis rises 10% (30% for rural funds) after five years, and appreciation in the fund is tax-free after ten years. This calculator does not model a QOF investment; the opportunity zone calculator does, under both the old and new rules.

Common mistakes the calculator helps you avoid

• Selling on the anniversary. One day early turns a 15% gain into a 22%, 24%, or higher one.
• Forgetting depreciation. You owe tax on depreciation that was "allowed or allowable," even if you never claimed it. Leaving it out of basis understates the gain.
• Treating a rental's depreciation as a flat 25%. It is your ordinary rate up to 25%, which is less for many taxpayers.
• Using 0/15/20% on gold or art. Collectibles go up to 28%.
• Entering gross income in the income field. The calculator wants taxable income after your deduction; entering gross income overstates the tax.
• Ignoring NIIT. Once MAGI crosses $200,000 single or $250,000 joint, the last dollars of gain cost an extra 3.8%.

What the calculator does not model

It handles one sale at a time. It does not net several gains and losses, apply loss carryovers, model section 1231 loss lookback, AMT, the qualified dividend interaction with your other income, installment reporting, or partial home sale exclusions. Inside a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), or HSA, sales are not taxed when they happen, so the tool shows $0; traditional account withdrawals are taxed later as ordinary income.