Stacked on ordinary income
2026 Capital Gains Tax Calculator
A long-term capital gain is not taxed at your ordinary rate, and it is not taxed in isolation either. It sits on top of your other taxable income, and the rate applied to each slice depends on where that slice lands in a separate three-rate schedule. One sale can therefore produce three different rates at once.
Enter ordinary taxable income, the long-term gain, modified adjusted gross income and a filing status. The tool stacks the gain on the existing income, splits it across the 0%, 15% and 20% bands, then adds the 3.8% net investment income tax where it applies.
Calculator
Official 2026 figures used here
| Filing status | 0% up to | 15% up to | 20% above |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $49,450 | $545,500 | $545,500 |
| Married filing jointly | $98,900 | $613,700 | $613,700 |
| Head of household | $66,200 | $579,600 | $579,600 |
| Married filing separately | $49,450 | $306,850 | $306,850 |
How to read the result
The stacking rule is what makes the answer non-obvious. A single filer with $40,000 of ordinary taxable income has $9,450 of room left in the 0% band, so a $50,000 gain is taxed at 0% on the first $9,450 and at 15% on the remaining $40,550. The gain did not change the ordinary income, but the ordinary income decided how much of the gain was free.
Holding period matters more than any other single decision. An asset held more than a year qualifies for these rates; an asset held a year or less produces a short-term gain taxed at ordinary rates up to the top bracket. The difference on a large sale routinely reaches five figures, and the test is measured to the day rather than by month.
The 3.8% net investment income tax is a separate layer rather than a fourth capital gains rate. It applies to the smaller of net investment income or the excess of modified AGI over a statutory threshold that varies by filing status, and those thresholds are not indexed. It can be owed in the same year as the additional Medicare tax on wages, because the two surtaxes reach different kinds of income.
The standard deduction is already reflected in the ordinary taxable income you enter, which is why the tool asks for taxable income rather than salary. Sale of a principal residence is excluded up to a statutory amount and inherited assets take a stepped-up basis, so neither situation is modelled here. State treatment is a further layer and is not included in any figure above.
Questions people ask about this figure
What is the 2026 0% capital gains threshold?
$49,450 of taxable income for single filers and married filing separately, $98,900 for a joint return, and $66,200 for heads of household.
Do short-term gains get these rates?
No. Gains on assets held one year or less are added to ordinary income and taxed at the regular brackets, which reach 37%.
Why is the net investment income tax computed separately?
It is a surtax under a different code section, charged on the smaller of net investment income or modified AGI above the threshold. It is reported on its own form rather than inside the capital gains rate schedule.
Related calculators
Every figure on this page appears in the official release listed below. The values were checked against those pages on 2026-11-14. Where a release states a threshold but does not publish a rate, this site reports the threshold and does not estimate the missing value.
- IRS: Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 — Revenue Procedure 2025-32 / IR-2025-103
- IRS: Net Investment Income Tax — IRC section 1411 guidance