Capital Gains Tax Calculator
Quick answer
A long-term capital gain is not multiplied by one rate. It stacks on top of your ordinary taxable income and is split across the 0%, 15% and 20% zones, so a single gain can be taxed at two or three rates at once. This calculator shows each slice separately, adds the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax as its own line, and estimates state tax separately from the federal figure.
What this includes
- The 0% / 15% / 20% split of a long-term gain, stacked on your ordinary income
- Short-term gains taxed as ordinary income at your bracket rate
- Qualified dividends, which fill the same preferential zones
- Capital losses, the $3,000 ordinary-income allowance and a carryforward that keeps its character
- The 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, calculated and shown separately
- The holding-period boundary, measured to the day
What it excludes
- The 28% collectibles rate group and unrecaptured § 1250 gain at up to 25%
- Section 1256 contracts, which are marked to market and split 60/40
- The § 121 home-sale exclusion unless you explicitly enter it
- Wash-sale adjustments, § 1202 stock, installment sales and the AMT
The 2026 rule most people get wrong: the 0% and 15% ceilings are ceilings on TAXABLE INCOME, not on the gain. For a single filer the 0% rate stops at $49,450 of taxable income including the gain — so ordinary income fills those zones first and pushes the gain upward into the higher ones.
How these figures are calculated · IRS Schedule D · IRS Publication 550 · Tax data last verified
2026 tax inputs and methodology reviewed by Deepak Middha, Chartered AccountantMethodologyEditorial standards
Understand your result
| Filing status | 0% up to | 15% up to | 20% above | NIIT threshold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $49,450 | $545,500 | $545,500 | $200,000 |
| Married filing jointly | $98,900 | $613,700 | $613,700 | $250,000 |
| Married filing separately | $49,450 | $306,850 | $306,850 | $125,000 |
| Head of household | $66,200 | $579,600 | $579,600 | $200,000 |
The first three columns are taxable-income ceilings from Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and are inflation-indexed. The last is a modified-AGI threshold from IRC § 1411, is fixed by statute, and has never been indexed — it has been the same figure since 2013, which is why it catches more people every year.
A single filer with $75,000 of other income, selling once. The last two columns are the cost of the holding-period boundary: the same gain realised one day before it turns long-term.
| Long-term gain | At 0% | At 15% | At 20% | NIIT | Total federal | Effective rate | If short-term | Cost of selling early |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $0 | $10,000 | $0 | $0 | $1,500 | 15.00% | $2,200 | $700 |
| $25,000 | $0 | $25,000 | $0 | $0 | $3,750 | 15.00% | $5,500 | $1,750 |
| $50,000 | $0 | $50,000 | $0 | $0 | $7,500 | 15.00% | $11,064 | $3,564 |
| $100,000 | $0 | $100,000 | $0 | $0 | $15,000 | 15.00% | $23,064 | $8,064 |
| $250,000 | $0 | $250,000 | $0 | $4,750 | $42,250 | 16.90% | $73,964 | $31,714 |
The effective rate is flat until the gain is large enough to cross a threshold, then it climbs — which is exactly what a single-rate calculator cannot show. On the $250,000 row the extra is the Net Investment Income Tax, not a higher capital-gains bracket.
The same $50,000 long-term gain for a single filer, with ordinary income moved to sit exactly at each boundary. The final column is the tax on the next $1,000 of gain from that position — the number that actually matters when you are deciding how much to realise.
| Where the ordinary income sits | Ordinary taxable | At 0% | At 15% | At 20% | NIIT | Rate on the next $1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No ordinary taxable income — the gain starts at the bottom of the 0% zone | $0 | $49,450 | $550 | $0 | $0 | 15.00% |
| Ordinary taxable income $1 below the 0% ceiling ($49,449) | $49,449 | $1 | $49,999 | $0 | $0 | 15.00% |
| Ordinary taxable income exactly fills the 0% zone ($49,450) | $49,450 | $0 | $50,000 | $0 | $0 | 15.00% |
| Modified AGI at the NIIT threshold ($200,000) | $133,900 | $0 | $50,000 | $0 | $0 | 18.80% |
| $1 above the NIIT threshold | $133,901 | $0 | $50,000 | $0 | $0 | 18.80% |
| $1 below the 15% ceiling (taxable $545,499) | $495,499 | $0 | $50,000 | $0 | $1,900 | 23.80% |
| $1 into the 20% zone | $495,501 | $0 | $49,999 | $1 | $1,900 | 23.80% |
Two things this table makes visible. First, ordinary income consumes the 0% zone before the gain gets near it — the top row is the only one where any of the gain is tax-free. Second, the rate on the next dollar jumps by 3.8 points at the NIIT threshold and again at the 20% boundary, so the marginal cost of realising more is 18.8% and then 23.8%, not 15% and 20%.
Collectibles — 28%. Art, coins, antiques, precious metals and physically backed metal ETFs sit in their own rate group. The 28% is a maximum, not a flat rate: if your ordinary bracket is lower, the lower rate applies. Anything entered here is priced at 0/15/20 instead, so a collectibles gain is understated.
Unrecaptured section 1250 gain — up to 25%.Depreciation claimed on a rental or business property is recaptured at up to 25% before the rest of the gain gets the preferential rates. This is the reason a landlord's sale rarely matches a stock calculator's answer, and it is also why the § 121 exclusion does not cover the whole gain on a home that was ever rented out.
Section 1256 contracts — 60/40, marked to market. Regulated futures, broad-based index options and certain foreign-currency contracts are treated as sold at year end whether or not you sold them, and the result is 60% long-term and 40% short-term regardless of how long you held. Enter the two halves yourself in the short-term and long-term boxes.
Form 8949 is the detail — one line per disposal, split into short-term and long-term sections and further split by whether the broker reported your basis to the IRS. Schedule D is the summary: it carries the 8949 totals, performs the netting this calculator performs, applies the § 1(h) rates through its own worksheet, and sends one figure to Form 1040.
The Net Investment Income Tax is not on Schedule D at all. It is computed on Form 8960 and lands on Schedule 2, which is why it is shown as its own line above rather than folded into a headline rate. See the Form 8949 and Schedule D walkthrough →
- IRS — About Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses →
- IRS — About Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets →
- IRS Publication 550 — Investment Income and Expenses →
- IRS — About Form 8960, Net Investment Income Tax →
- IRS Topic no. 409 — Capital gains and losses →
- IRS Topic no. 701 — Sale of your home (section 121 exclusion) →
Methodology and sources
How the Capital Gains Tax Calculator works for tax year 2026, what it leaves out, and the official material behind its figures. Reviewed by Deepak Middha, Chartered Accountant · Data, formulas and sources last re-verified .
What this calculator estimates
- Federal tax on a single realized gain or loss
- Whether the gain is short-term or long-term based on your dates
- Which long-term rate bracket the gain falls into
- Whether the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax applies
What it does not calculate
- Wash sales, carryover losses, or netting across multiple lots
- Collectibles (28%), section 1202 stock, or unrecaptured section 1250 gain
- State capital-gains tax
- Basis adjustments from corporate actions, gifts, or inheritance
Formula summary
- Sale proceeds − cost basis − selling costs = realized gain or loss
- Holding period over one year = long-term; one year or less = short-term
- Short-term gains are added to ordinary income and taxed at your marginal bracket
- Long-term gains are taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% according to taxable income for your filing status
- Net Investment Income Tax of 3.8% is applied to the lesser of net investment income or the excess of modified AGI over the statutory threshold
Tax-year assumptions
- Uses the 2026 long-term capital-gains thresholds and ordinary brackets
- NIIT thresholds are the statutory amounts, which are not inflation-adjusted
- Assumes the sale settles within the tax year entered
Filing-status assumptions
- All four filing statuses are supported for both the long-term thresholds and NIIT
- Other taxable income you enter determines which long-term rate band the gain falls into
Important exclusions
- The section 121 home-sale exclusion
- Qualified opportunity fund deferrals and section 1031 exchanges
- Not modelled: Alternative Minimum Tax, the kiddie tax, foreign-income and treaty rules, and any state-specific add-backs
Official sources used on this page
Educational use only — these figures are estimates, not a tax filing or personalized advice. Read the editorial methodology or report a correction.