Long Term Gains Calculator

Long Term Gains Calculator

Long-term capital gains (assets held over one year) are taxed at preferential rates of 0%, 15%, or 20%.

How It Works

1. Enter your income or relevant financial details 2. Select your filing status and applicable deductions 3. Review your estimated tax liability 4. Plan your finances accordingly

Important Notes

• Tax laws change frequently; verify rates for the current year
• This provides estimates; consult a tax professional for complex situations
• State and local taxes vary and may require separate calculations
• Consider tax-advantaged strategies to minimize your liability

Common Deductions and Credits

Many taxpayers can reduce taxes through:

• Standard deduction or itemized deductions
• Retirement account contributions
• Education credits
• Child tax credit
• Mortgage interest deduction

Long-Term Capital Gains Rates

Assets held more than a year are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% — and the bracket is set by your total taxable income including the gain, not by the gain alone.

2024 thresholds, single filer:

Taxable income	Rate
Up to $47,025	0%
$47,026–$518,900	15%
Above $518,900	20%

Plus the 3.8% net investment income tax above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly).

The 0% bracket is genuinely underused. A retiree or a filer in a low-income year can realise gains up to the threshold and pay nothing, resetting cost basis upward at zero cost — "gain harvesting", the mirror of loss harvesting.

Note the interaction: a large gain pushes *itself* into a higher bracket, so realising $500,000 in one year costs more than realising $100,000 across five.

A Note on These Figures

Brackets, thresholds and the standard deduction shown here are for tax year 2024, filed in 2025, and they are indexed to inflation every year. State tax is not included and ranges from nothing at all (Florida, Texas, Washington and six others) to 13.3% in California.

This is an estimate, not tax advice. Anything involving equity compensation, multiple states, self-employment or a life change is worth an hour of a professional's time.

Worked Through the Brackets

On $90,000 of gross income, filing single, taking the $14,600 standard deduction — so $75,400 of taxable income:

Bracket	Range	Income taxed here	Tax
10%	$0 – $11,600	$11,600	$1,160
12%	$11,600 – $47,150	$35,550	$4,266
22%	$47,150 – $100,525	$28,250	$6,215
Total			$11,641

That is a 12.9% effective rate against a 22% marginal rate. The two answer different questions: the marginal rate is what the next dollar costs, and it is the one that decides whether a 401(k) contribution or an extra shift is worth it. The effective rate is what you actually paid, and it is the one to budget against.

The Same Income, Different Sources

Source	Federal tax on it
Wages (above)	$11,641
Self-employment profit	$11,641 income tax plus $12,717 SE tax
Long-term capital gain of $10,000	$1,500 at 15%

Where income comes from changes the bill more than how much of it there is. A self-employed filer at this level pays roughly $12,717 that an employee never sees, because there is no employer paying the other half of FICA.