Looking into long term cap gains taxes
May 20, 2026
I’m looking up capital gains tax rates in case we get to the point of needing to sell off assets to make up the income gap without my job.
Looks like the tax on cap gains are determined by overall taxable income. Since we still have PiC’s income for the moment, I’ll plan on a 15% tax. Better to plan for that and be pleasantly surprised should we NOT meet the minimum threshold than the other way around:
A capital gains rate of 15% applies if your taxable income is:
- more than $48,350 but less than or equal to $533,400 for single;
- more than $48,350 but less than or equal to $300,000 for married filing separately;
- more than $96,700 but less than or equal to $600,050 for married filing jointly and qualifying surviving spouse; and
- more than $64,750 but less than or equal to $566,700 for head of household.
We won’t exceed the thresholds to get into the 20% rate and we don’t have any reason to trigger the exceptions:
– The taxable part of a gain from selling section 1202 qualified small business stock is taxed at a maximum 28% rate.
– Net capital gains from selling collectibles (such as coins or art) are taxed at a maximum 28% rate.
– The portion of any unrecaptured section 1250 gain from selling section 1250 real property is taxed at a maximum 25% rate.
Short-term capital gains are taxed as ordinary income so we’ll only sell off older stocks, bonds, and mutual funds first.