The federal charge is the part of a capital gains bill that is the same wherever you live, and it is worth separating from the state charge because the two are computed differently and published by different people. This page is the federal layer alone: four IRS pages, the figures they carry, and the order in which they apply to a disposal.
The rate on a long-term gain
The IRS publishes that the tax rate on most net capital gain is no higher than 15% for most individuals, with a 0% rate applying where taxable income is at or below $48,350 for single and married filing separately, $96,700 for married filing jointly and qualifying surviving spouse, and $64,750 for head of household, and a 20% rate above the 15% band. Those thresholds are taxable income figures, tested after deductions, and they were read from IRS Topic no. 409 on 11 September 2026. A rate table found anywhere else should be checked against that page before it is relied on.
The rule that decides whether the table applies
Only a long-term gain uses that scale. The IRS states that generally, if you hold the asset for more than one year before you dispose of it, your capital gain or loss is long-term, and if you hold it one year or less it is short-term, with named exceptions for property acquired by gift, property acquired from a decedent and patent property. A short-term gain is taxed with ordinary income. The holding period is counted from the day after you acquired the asset up to and including the day you disposed of it.
What comes off, and what goes on
Off first: losses net against gains, and where capital losses exceed capital gains the amount of the excess loss you can claim to lower your income is the lesser of $3,000, or $1,500 if married filing separately, or your total net loss shown on Schedule D, with anything more carried forward to later years. On last: the Net Investment Income Tax, which the IRS describes as a 3.8 percent charge on the lesser of net investment income or the amount by which modified adjusted gross income exceeds the statutory threshold, being $250,000 married filing jointly, $125,000 married filing separately, and $200,000 single or head of household.
The two federal reliefs worth knowing before you sell
If the asset is your main home, the IRS publishes an exclusion of up to $250,000 of the gain from income, or up to $500,000 on a joint return with your spouse, subject to an ownership test met by owning the home for at least 24 months out of the five years leading up to the sale. If it is investment real property, Section 1031 means that generally, on a like-kind exchange, you are not required to recognize a gain or loss, though it now applies only to real property and any money or other property received is recognised to that extent. Both must be arranged before the disposal.
Questions people ask about federal capital gains tax calculator
Is the federal rate the whole bill?
Only where your state charges nothing. Texas and Florida bar the tax in their constitutions; California taxes gains as ordinary income; Washington charges a separate 7% excise. The record on this site quotes each.
What are the 2026 federal thresholds?
As published on IRS Topic no. 409 and read on 11 September 2026: the 0% band applies at taxable income at or below $48,350 for single and married filing separately, $96,700 for married filing jointly and qualifying surviving spouse, and $64,750 for head of household.
Is the Net Investment Income Tax part of the capital gains rate?
No, it is a separate 3.8 percent charge with its own thresholds, and it applies to the lesser of net investment income or the excess of modified adjusted gross income over that threshold.
Does the main-home exclusion need a claim?
It has conditions, the ownership and use tests, and how they apply to your dates is a question about your own facts. That is what an adviser is for; this site publishes the rule and the page it is on.