US Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Work out 2026 federal tax on a gain from stocks, crypto, a rental or your home: 0%, 15% or 20% long term, ordinary rates short term, plus the 3.8% NIIT.

Reviewed by Dany, RightSums team · Updated

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salary-tax · Daily life · US

Enter the sale price, what you paid, your fees and your other income for 2026 to see the federal tax on a capital gain. The calculator checks if you held the asset for more than a year, then stacks a long-term gain on top of your taxable income to split it across the 0%, 15% and 20% bands for your filing status, using the IRS figures in Rev. Proc. 2025-32. A short-term gain is taxed at your ordinary income tax rates. It adds the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax when your income passes $200,000 ($250,000 joint), applies the $250,000 or $500,000 home sale exclusion and sets capital losses against the gain. It is an estimate of federal tax only: state tax, the 28% collectibles rate and depreciation recapture are not included.

Accepted inputs

  • What you sold: stocks or funds, second home or rental, crypto, main home
  • Sale price, purchase price (basis), and buying, selling or improvement costs
  • Other income (AGI) for 2026 before this gain
  • Filing status: single, married filing jointly or head of household
  • Purchase and sale dates, or a short-term or long-term choice
  • Capital losses to set against the gain
  • Home sale exclusion for a main home you owned and lived in for 2 of the last 5 years

Outputs

  • Gain and taxable gain after the home exclusion and losses
  • Long-term gain at 0%, 15% and 20%, or short-term gain at ordinary rates
  • Net Investment Income Tax at 3.8%
  • Total federal tax and the effective rate on the gain
  • What you keep after tax and fees
  • The first date a sale counts as long term
  • Ways to pay less, worked out for your numbers

How to use the US Capital Gains Tax Calculator

  1. Say what you sold and enter the sale price, what you paid and any buying, selling or improvement costs.
  2. Add your other income for 2026 and your filing status, because they decide where the gain sits in the 0%, 15% and 20% bands.
  3. Enter the purchase and sale dates, or pick short term or long term, and tick the home sale exclusion if it applies.
  4. The calculator shows the tax at each rate, any 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, the total and ways to pay less, all worked out in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

What are the long-term capital gains tax brackets for 2026?

According to IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, long-term gains are taxed at 0% up to $49,450 of taxable income for single filers, $98,900 for married filing jointly and $66,200 for heads of household. The 15% rate runs to $545,500, $613,700 and $579,600, and 20% applies above those amounts. Married filing separately uses $49,450 and $306,850.

How much tax will I pay on a $20,000 capital gain?

A single filer with $80,000 of other income pays $3,000 on a $20,000 long-term gain, because all of it falls in the 15% band. Sold after a year or less, the same gain is short term and taxed as ordinary income at 22%, which is $4,400. Holding for more than one year saves $1,400 here.

How is short-term capital gains tax calculated?

A short-term gain, on an asset held for one year or less, is added to your other income and taxed at your ordinary 2026 rates of 10% to 37%. There is no separate short-term rate. The holding period starts the day after you buy, so an asset bought on 1 June 2025 is long term if sold on or after 2 June 2026.

When do you pay the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax?

The 3.8% tax applies to the smaller of your net investment income or your modified AGI above $200,000 (single or head of household) or $250,000 (married filing jointly). The IRS says these thresholds are not raised for inflation. A single filer with $180,000 of wages and a $50,000 gain pays 3.8% on $30,000, which is $1,140, on top of $7,500 at 15%.

Do I pay capital gains tax when I sell my house?

Up to $250,000 of gain on your main home is excluded, or $500,000 for a joint return, if you owned it and lived in it for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale. A couple with a $600,000 gain and $150,000 of income pays 15% on the other $100,000, which is $15,000. The excluded gain is also free of the 3.8% NIIT.

Sources

The rates and rules in this tool come from:

Guides that use this tool

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