Real Estate Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Estimate the federal tax on selling a home or investment property. Enter what you paid, closing costs, improvements, any depreciation you claimed, the sale price and selling costs, how long you owned it and lived in it, your filing status, and your taxable income without the sale. The calculator figures your adjusted basis and gain, applies the home sale exclusion when you qualify, taxes the depreciation part of the gain at up to 25% and the rest at the long-term rates, adds the 3.8% net investment income tax where it applies, and shows what a 1031 exchange would defer.

Quick answer: how is a property sale taxed?

Gain = (sale price − selling costs) − (purchase price + purchase closing costs + improvements − depreciation). Property held more than one year is taxed at long-term rates of 0%, 15%, or 20%; held one year or less, at ordinary rates. Up to $250,000 of gain on a main home ($500,000 married filing jointly) can be excluded. On rentals, the part of the gain created by depreciation is taxed at up to 25%, and high earners add 3.8% NIIT.

Results are estimates for informational purposes only. The calculator models federal tax, not state tax, and simplifies several steps described below.

The inputs and how they combine

Basis. IRS Publication 523 lets you add settlement costs such as legal and recording fees, surveys, transfer taxes, and owner's title insurance, plus capital improvements. Loan fees, points, mortgage insurance, and repairs do not go into basis. Depreciation and casualty losses you claimed reduce it.

Holding period. IRS Topic 409 defines long-term as held more than one year, counting from the day after you acquired the property through the day you sold it.

Worked example: the default inputs

Inputs: bought for $300,000 with $6,000 of closing costs; $20,000 of improvements; no depreciation; sold for $500,000 with $15,000 of selling costs; owned 5 years; never lived in it; single; $80,000 of other taxable income.

2026 long-term capital gains brackets

The thresholds apply to total taxable income including the gain, per Rev. Proc. 2025-32:

How depreciation on a rental is taxed when you sell

The default example has no depreciation, which is only right for land or a property you never rented or used for business. Suppose the same property was a rental and you took $45,000 of depreciation over the five years. Publication 523 and Publication 544 explain the consequences: basis is reduced by depreciation allowed or allowable (whichever is greater), and the gain due to that depreciation is unrecaptured section 1250 gain, taxed at your ordinary rate but never more than 25% (IRC §1(h)(1)(E)). Enter the $45,000 in the Depreciation Claimed field and the calculator does the split for you, following the Schedule D Tax Worksheet.

Worked rental sale. Same numbers as above, plus $45,000 of depreciation. Wages are $96,100; after the $16,100 standard deduction, ordinary taxable income is $80,000.

Tax on each layer, stacked on top of the $80,000:

1. §1250 gain ($80,000 → $125,000 of taxable income): taxed at ordinary rates, capped at 25%. $25,700 falls in the 22% bracket (up to $105,700) and $19,300 in the 24% bracket: $5,654 + $4,632 = $10,286.
2. Long-term gain ($125,000 → $284,000): entirely in the 15% band: $23,850.
3. NIIT: modified AGI is $96,100 + $204,000 = $300,100. 3.8% × the lesser of $204,000 or $100,100 = $3,803.80.

Total federal tax on the sale: $37,939.80, or 18.6% of the $204,000 gain. The 25% cap only bites for filers whose ordinary income already reaches the 32% bracket; for this filer the depreciation slice is taxed at 22% and 24%. If you had ignored the depreciation, you would have reported a $159,000 gain and about $4,000 less tax, which is exactly the kind of underpayment the IRS catches on Form 4797. The after-tax rental cash flow guide shows how those depreciation deductions were earned in the first place, and the MACRS depreciation guide explains the 27.5-year schedule behind them.

How the home sale exclusion works in the calculator

Enter 2 or more "years as primary residence" (and at least 2 years owned) and the calculator subtracts up to $250,000 ($500,000 married filing jointly) from the gain, after first setting aside the gain caused by depreciation, which IRC §121(d)(6) never lets you exclude. Publication 523's eligibility test is more detailed:

• Ownership: at least 24 months in the 5 years before the sale (one spouse is enough on a joint return).
• Use: at least 24 months (730 days) as your main home in that 5-year window; each spouse must meet it for the full $500,000.
• Frequency: no exclusion on another home sale in the prior 2 years.
• 1031 property: no exclusion if you acquired the home in a like-kind exchange within the prior 5 years.
• Partial exclusion: available if you move mainly for a new job at least 50 miles farther away, for health reasons, or for certain unforeseeable events.

Example. A married couple bought a home for $400,000, added $60,000 of improvements, and sells for $1,050,000 with $60,000 of selling costs. Gain = $990,000 − $460,000 = $530,000. After the $500,000 exclusion, $30,000 is taxable. With $150,000 of other taxable income, it is all taxed at 15%: $4,500. The excluded $500,000 is also excluded from net investment income under IRS Topic 559, so NIIT is only a question for the $30,000, and their estimated MAGI ($150,000 + $32,200 + $30,000 = $212,200) is below the $250,000 joint threshold.

Same home with a past home office or rental period. Now suppose the couple claimed $30,000 of depreciation for a few years when part of the house was rented. Adjusted basis drops to $430,000 and the gain rises to $560,000. The $30,000 of depreciation-related gain is taxable no matter what; the other $530,000 gets the $500,000 exclusion, leaving $30,000 of regular long-term gain. Tax: $30,000 of unrecaptured §1250 gain at their 22% rate ($6,600) plus $30,000 at 15% ($4,500) = $11,100. The calculator shows the non-excludable amount under the exclusion figure. It does not apply the separate nonqualified-use reduction for rental periods after 2008 that come before you moved in, so check Publication 523 if the home was a rental first.

Short-term sales and flips

Hold one year or less and the whole gain is ordinary income, stacked on top of your other taxable income through the brackets. Example: a single filer with $80,000 of taxable income sells a flip for a $60,000 gain after 10 months. The tax is $13,886 ($25,700 at 22% plus $34,300 at 24%), compared with $9,000 at 15% had the flip been held more than a year. Estimated MAGI is $156,100, under the $200,000 NIIT threshold. If you flip regularly, the IRS may treat the properties as inventory of a dealer, which also brings self-employment tax and changes the treatment altogether.

What the 1031 and Opportunity Zone toggles show

1031 exchange. The toggle displays the federal tax that would be deferred. Under Publication 544, a deferred exchange requires you to identify replacement property within 45 days and receive it within 180 days, and a qualified intermediary must hold the proceeds. Deferred gain carries into the new property's basis. Use the 1031 exchange tax calculator to model boot and the replacement property's basis.

Opportunity Zone. Under the original rules, gain invested in a qualified opportunity fund is included in income on the earlier of a sale of the fund interest or December 31, 2026 (IRS opportunity zone FAQs). A gain from a 2026 sale invested in 2026 is therefore taxed on your 2026 return anyway, so it defers almost nothing, and the 10% and 15% basis increases (which needed 5 and 7 years before that date) can no longer be reached. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the program permanent for amounts invested after December 31, 2026: the gain is deferred until the earlier of a sale or five years after the investment, basis rises by 10% of the deferred gain (30% in a qualified rural fund) after five years, and appreciation on the fund investment can be excluded after ten years (IRC §1400Z-2, as amended by Pub. L. 119-21 §70421). The toggle shows the federal tax that would be postponed under that rule, before any step-up; the tax is delayed, not forgiven. To model step-ups, the ten-year exclusion and the cost of paying the deferred tax later, use the opportunity zone calculator. IRS guidance on the new zone designations explains the new map.

How to report the sale

• Home sale, gain fully excluded and no Form 1099-S: generally nothing to report.
• Home sale with taxable gain or a Form 1099-S: Form 8949 and Schedule D.
• Rental or business property: Form 4797; the net §1231 gain flows to Schedule D, and the unrecaptured §1250 gain is figured on the Schedule D worksheet.
• NIIT: Form 8960. Check your exposure with the NIIT calculator.

Keep reading

The real estate capital gains tax guide compares home and rental sales in more depth, including converting a rental back into your home. For stocks, funds, and other assets, use the general capital gains calculator.