This guide can help you better understand the different rules that apply to various types of capital gains, which are typically profits made from taxpayers’ sale of assets and investments.
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The U.S. Government taxes different kinds of income at different rates. Some types of capital gains, such as profits from the sale of a stock that you have held for a long time, are generally taxed at a more favorable rate than your salary or interest income. However, not all capital gains are treated equally. The tax rate can vary dramatically between short-term and long-term gains. Understanding the capital gains tax rate is an important step for most investors.
Capital gains are profits you make from selling an asset. Typical assets include businesses, land, cars, boats, and investment securities such as stocks and bonds. Selling one of these assets can trigger a taxable event. This often requires that the capital gain or loss on that asset be reported to the IRS on your income taxes.
Generally, capital gains and losses are handled according to how long you've held a particular asset – known as the holding period. Profits you make from selling assets you’ve held for a year or less are called short-term capital gains. Alternatively, gains from assets you’ve held for longer than a year are known as long-term capital gains. Typically, there are specific rules and different tax rates applied to short-term and long-term capital gains. In general, you will pay less in taxes on long-term capital gains than you will on short-term capital gains. Likewise, capital losses are also typically categorized as short term or long-term using the same criteria.
You typically do not benefit from any special tax rate on short-term capital gains. Instead, these profits are usually taxed at the same rate as your ordinary income. This tax rate is based on your income and filing status. Other items to note about short-term capital gains:
Taxable Income
Taxable Income
One major exception to the capital gains tax rate on real estate profits is from the sale of your principal residence. If you have owned your home and used it as your main residence for at least two of the last five years prior to selling it, then you can usually exclude up to $250,000 of capital gains on this type of real estate sale if you're single, and up to $500,000 if you file as Married Filing Jointly.
If you hold your assets for longer than a year, you can often benefit from a reduced tax rate on your profits. Those in the lower tax bracket could pay nothing for their capital gains rate, while high-income taxpayers could save as much as 17% off the ordinary income rate, according to the IRS.
Tax Rate
Tax Rate
One major exception to a reduced long-term capital gains rate applies to collectible assets, such as antiques, fine art, coins, or even valuable vintages of wine. Typically, any profits from the sale of these collectibles will be taxed at 28% regardless of how long you have held the item.
Another major exception comes from the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT), which adds a 3.8% surtax to certain investment sales by individuals, estates, and trusts above a set threshold. Typically, this surtax applies to those with high incomes who also have a significant amount of capital gains from investment, interest, and dividend income.
One of the many benefits of IRAs and other retirement accounts is that you can defer paying taxes on capital gains. Whether you generate a short-term or long-term gain in your IRA, you don’t have to pay any tax until you take money out of the account.
The negative side is that all contributions and earnings you withdraw from a taxable IRA or other taxable retirement accounts, even profits from long-term capital gains, are typically taxed as ordinary income. So, while retirement accounts offer tax deferral, they do not benefit from lower long-term capital gains rates.
As previously mentioned, different tax rates apply to short-term and long-term gains. However, if your investments end up losing money rather than generating gains, those losses can affect your taxes as well. However, in this case, you can use those losses to reduce your taxes. The IRS allows you to match up your gains and losses for any given year to determine your net capital gain or loss.
There are several ways you can minimize the taxes you pay on capital gains:
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