Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Gain = sale price - cost basis - losses used against it. Held more than one year: the gain stacks on top of your ordinary income and is taxed at 0, 15 or 20 percent depending on where it lands. Held one year or less: the gain is ordinary income and runs through the normal brackets. An extra 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax applies to investment income once total income passes the threshold for your filing status. The thresholds built in are the 2025 federal ones.

How long do I have to hold something to get the lower rate?

More than one year. The clock starts the day after you bought and ends on the day you sold. One day short and the whole gain is taxed as ordinary income, which for most people is a difference of 7 to 17 percentage points.

Can I really pay zero percent?

Yes. If your ordinary income plus the gain stays under the first threshold, the long-term rate on that part is genuinely zero. This is why selling in a low-income year - between jobs, early retirement, a sabbatical - can be worth planning around.

What is a cost basis?

What the asset cost you, including commissions and fees. For property it also includes improvements: a new roof or an addition raises your basis and lowers the gain. Repairs do not. Keep the receipts - they are worth real money at sale.

Do losses cancel gains?

Yes, dollar for dollar. If losses exceed gains, up to 3,000 dollars of the excess can come off your ordinary income each year and the rest carries forward with no time limit. Selling losers deliberately to do this is called tax-loss harvesting.

Do I owe capital gains tax when I sell my home?

Often not. If it was your main home for two of the last five years, you can exclude 250,000 dollars of gain as a single filer or 500,000 as a married couple filing jointly. Only the gain above that is taxed. This page does not apply the exclusion, so subtract it from your gain first.

Is crypto treated the same way?

Yes. The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, so the same one-year holding rule and the same rates apply. Trading one coin for another is a taxable sale, not a swap, which surprises a lot of people.

Do I pay this if I never sold?

No. Gains are only taxed when realized. An investment that doubled and is still held owes nothing. This is why holding is tax-efficient and why frequent trading is expensive even when it wins.