US Capital Gains Tax Calculator
Calculate US federal capital gains tax on stocks, real estate, and other assets — with LTCG 0%/15%/20% rates and STCG ordinary income rates, using the 2026 figures built into the tool.
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How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter the sale price and your cost basis (purchase price plus fees, and improvements for property).
- 2
Enter the holding period in months. This tool treats more than 12 months as long-term and 12 months or less as short-term.
- 3
Enter your other ordinary income as taxable income. The tool does not subtract a standard deduction from it, so enter your estimated taxable income before the gain.
- 4
Pick a filing status. The ordinary brackets, the 0% / 15% / 20% thresholds and the 3.8% surtax test are all fixed figures built into the tool and labelled 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How does this tool tax a long-term gain?
It stacks the gain on top of the ordinary income you enter. The part of the gain that sits below the 0% threshold is untaxed, the part up to the 20% threshold is taxed at 15%, and anything above is taxed at 20%. The thresholds built into this tool, labelled 2026, are $49,450 and $545,500 for single, $98,900 and $613,700 for married filing jointly, $49,450 and $306,850 for married filing separately, and $66,200 and $579,600 for head of household.
How are short-term gains handled?
A holding period of 12 months or less is added to your ordinary income and run through the progressive brackets built into the tool (labelled 2026) for your filing status. The tool reports only the extra tax caused by the gain, found by taxing your income with the gain and without it. Single, married filing jointly, head of household and married filing separately each have their own bracket table.
Is “other ordinary income” taken before or after the standard deduction?
The tool treats the number as taxable income and subtracts no standard deduction or itemised deductions. If you type in your salary the gain may appear to sit in a higher band than it would on a real return, so for a closer estimate enter your expected taxable income before the gain.
How is the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax estimated?
The tool adds 3.8% of the lesser of the gain or the amount by which ordinary income plus the gain exceeds $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly, $125,000 for married filing separately; heads of household use $200,000). It uses ordinary income plus the gain as a stand-in for modified AGI and ignores other investment income such as dividends and interest. Form 8960 is where the real figure is worked out.
What happens if I sold at a loss?
When the sale price is not above the cost basis the tool shows the loss and a note that losses can offset gains, with up to $3,000 of net loss usable against ordinary income each year and the remainder carried forward. It does not net the loss against other gains, apply the wash-sale rule or calculate any tax.
What is not covered?
State and local taxes, the home-sale exclusion, depreciation recapture, the higher rates that apply to some collectibles, qualified small business stock, alternative minimum tax and special treatment of qualified dividends are not modelled. The tool handles one sale at a time, so several lots with different holding periods need separate runs.
Does exactly 12 months count as long-term?
In this tool it does not: the test is months greater than 12, so 12 is short-term and 13 is long-term. Real holding periods are counted by dates, so a sale near the one-year mark is worth checking day by day against IRS guidance.
Which tax year do the figures belong to?
Every bracket, threshold and rate in the tool is labelled 2026. US tax figures change every year and these tables are not updated automatically, so treat the result as an illustration; the IRS governs, so rely on it or a qualified adviser for the current year.
Capital gains tax: holding period, rate bands and the 3.8% surtax
How the two paths work
The tool subtracts your cost basis from the sale price to get the gain, then looks at the holding period. If you held for more than 12 months it takes the long-term path: the gain is placed on top of your other ordinary income and each slice is taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on the thresholds built into the tool for your filing status. If you held for 12 months or less it takes the short-term path: the gain is added to ordinary income and taxed through the ordinary brackets, and only the extra tax caused by the gain is reported. Both paths then test for the 3.8% surtax.
Worked examples
Take a $50,000 sale with a $20,000 basis, a single filer with $75,000 of other income. Held 18 months, the $30,000 gain is taxed at 15% for $4,500, an effective rate of 15.00%. Held 8 months, the same gain is charged through the ordinary brackets for $6,600, because all of it falls in the 22% band. Now drop other income to $30,000 and hold 24 months: the first part of the gain still fits under the 0% threshold, so the tax is $1,583, an effective 5.27%. The 0% slice is why identical gains can produce very different bills.
Seven runs compared
The table varies filing status, income and holding period one scenario at a time. Row five shows a large gain on top of $400,000 of income crossing both the 15% and 20% thresholds and triggering the surtax, row six is a head-of-household short-term case taxed entirely in a single ordinary band, and row seven shows the surtax starting at $125,000 for a separate filer.
| Scenario | Term | Gain | Tax shown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single, $75,000 other income, 18 months | Long-term | $30,000 | $4,500 (15.00%) |
| Single, $75,000 other income, 8 months | Short-term | $30,000 | $6,600 |
| Single, $30,000 other income, 24 months | Long-term | $30,000 | $1,583 (5.27%) |
| Married filing jointly, $90,000, 30 months | Long-term | $100,000 | $13,665 (13.66%) |
| Single, $400,000, 24 months | Long-term | $300,000 | $64,125 (21.38%), including $11,400 surtax |
| Head of household, $120,000, 6 months | Short-term | $30,000 | $7,200 |
| Married filing separately, $50,000, 6 months | Short-term | $100,000 | $23,796, including $950 surtax |
Stacking the gain over other income
The order matters: ordinary income fills the bands first and the gain sits on top. In the $400,000 example the first $145,500 of the $300,000 gain sits below the 20% threshold and is taxed at 15%, and the remaining $154,500 is taxed at 20%, giving $52,725 before the surtax. The surtax then applies to the lesser of the gain or the income above $200,000, which here is the full $300,000 gain, adding $11,400. In the married filing jointly row the $90,000 of income leaves only the part of the gain below $98,900 untaxed.
What the estimate leaves out
This is a federal-only calculation for one sale. It ignores state tax, the home-sale exclusion, loss carryovers, depreciation recapture and different rates for collectibles. Because “other ordinary income” is taken as taxable income with no standard deduction, results can lean high for people who enter gross pay. The thresholds are 2026 figures built into the tool; US figures change every year and the tool does not update itself, so the IRS governs and the current tables should be confirmed there.
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Results are estimates for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial, medical, legal, or technical advice. Read full disclaimer →