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Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Capital gain
$8,000.00
Tax rate
15.0%
After-tax gain
$6,800.00
Tax owed$1,200.00
Effective rate on sale6.67%
NoteSimplified. Excludes wash sales, offset losses, state taxes, ACA surtax, indexation.

How to use the Capital Gains Tax Calculator

  1. Select the region: US federal, UK, India, or a custom flat rate for other jurisdictions.
  2. Enter cost basis — the total amount paid to acquire the asset including commissions.
  3. Enter sale proceeds — the total amount received net of selling commissions.
  4. Choose short-term (held ≤1 year in US, ≤12 months for equity in India) or long-term.
  5. For US: enter your taxable income so the calculator picks the correct 0/15/20% bracket.
  6. Add NIIT (3.8% Net Investment Income Tax) if income exceeds $200k single / $250k MFJ.
  7. For India property: enable indexation to inflate cost basis by the CII ratio.
  8. For UK: enter income to apply the correct 10%/20% (18%/24% for property) split.
  9. Deduct capital losses from prior years if carrying forward (US: no expiry).
  10. Read gain, tax owed, effective tax rate and after-tax net proceeds prominently.
  11. Compare short-term vs long-term scenarios side by side to see the value of waiting.
  12. Export the calculation as PDF for your accountant or as CSV for spreadsheet tracking.
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Capital Gains Tax — Long-Term Rates, Indexation and Global Comparisons

Capital gains tax is one of the biggest levers in personal finance — and one of the least understood. The same profit can face wildly different tax bills depending on how long you held, where you live and what type of asset you sold. Understanding the rules turns a mediocre investor into a great one; ignoring them silently transfers 15–37% of your returns to the government every year.

The US long-term capital gains regime is one of the most generous in the developed world. Assets held over one year are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on income. In 2025, a married couple with taxable income under $94,050 pays literally zero federal tax on qualified long-term gains. This 0% bracket is the single largest tax break most middle-income Americans never claim — retire early, live modestly, and realise gains under the threshold each year.

Short-term gains (held one year or less) are taxed as ordinary income — up to 37% federally plus state. Waiting one extra day to cross the long-term line can slash your tax bill in half. High earners also owe the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) on gains once modified AGI exceeds $200k (single) or $250k (MFJ). Combined federal + NIIT + top-state can push effective capital gains rates over 37% in California.

India taxes capital gains by asset type. Equity mutual funds and listed shares held over 12 months pay LTCG at 10% on gains exceeding ₹1 lakh per year — a very favourable regime. Real estate held over 24 months qualifies for indexation: the cost basis is inflated by the Cost Inflation Index (CII) ratio between purchase and sale years, dramatically reducing taxable gain. A property bought in 2010 for ₹50 lakh and sold in 2025 for ₹1.5 crore might show a nominal ₹1 crore gain but only ₹40 lakh after indexation — taxed at 20%.

The UK charges capital gains at 10% (basic-rate taxpayers) or 20% (higher-rate) on most assets, with a higher 18%/24% band for residential property that isn't your main home. Every UK taxpayer gets an annual CGT allowance (£3,000 for 2024/25) — gains under this threshold are tax-free. Married couples can combine allowances by transferring assets between spouses before disposal.

Tax-loss harvesting is legal and encouraged everywhere except India (which uniquely denies crypto loss offset). Sell losers to offset winners; carry excess losses forward indefinitely. In the US you can additionally deduct $3,000/year of net capital losses against ordinary income. Watch the wash-sale rule — don't buy back a 'substantially identical' security within 30 days. This calculator supports US, UK and India rules with one click — model both a short-term and long-term scenario before every sale to see the real cost of impatience.