The 2026 amounts
Section 4.03 of Revenue Procedure 2025-32 is titled as the maximum capital gains rate for taxable years beginning in 2026. It adjusts the maximum zero-rate amounts and the maximum 15 percent rate amounts. For married individuals filing joint returns and for a surviving spouse, the zero-rate amount is $98,900.00 and the 15 percent amount is $613,700.00. Married individuals filing separate returns are $49,450.00 and $306,850.00. Heads of household are $66,200.00 and $579,600.00. The row for all other individuals, which is the single row on this page, is $49,450.00 and $545,500.00. Estates and trusts are $3,300 and $16,250 in the same table. This page does not offer an estate or trust status, so those two figures are not in the form.
Gain that fits under the zero-rate amount, after ordinary taxable income, is taxed at 0 percent. Gain above that line and not over the 15 percent amount is taxed at 15 percent. Gain above the 15 percent amount is taxed at 20 percent. The procedure prints the lines. It does not print the $1,582.50 example below. That example is this page applying those lines.
A gain that stays at zero
A single filer with no ordinary taxable income and a long-term gain of $49,450.00 is still inside the $49,450 zero-rate amount. The tax on that gain is $0.00. One dollar more would cross into the 15 percent band. The zero-rate amount is not a standard deduction. It is a line on taxable income, which is the figure after the deduction. If you type wages instead of taxable income, the room in the zero band will be too large. The tax-bracket page shows the ordinary 2026 brackets and the basic standard deduction. This page does not subtract the deduction again.
A gain that crosses into 15 percent
Ordinary taxable income of $40,000 uses the first $40,000 of the single zero-rate amount. The amount left is $49,450 minus $40,000, which is $9,450.00. A $20,000 long-term gain fills that room and then has $10,550.00 left. Fifteen percent of $10,550 is $1,582.50. Nothing in this example reaches the 20 percent line, so the amount taxed at 20 percent is $0.00. The form above starts on this pair. Change the filing status and the lines change. A joint return's zero-rate amount is $98,900, so the same $40,000 plus $20,000 would sit entirely in the zero band. The page recomputes from the status you select. It does not assume single once you change the menu.
Stacking is the whole idea
People sometimes multiply the entire gain by 15 percent. That matches this table only when ordinary taxable income has already filled the zero-rate amount and the gain itself stays under the 15 percent amount. It is too high when some of the gain still fits at 0 percent, and it is too low when part of the gain is over the 15 percent amount. The calculator stacks: it starts at the ordinary taxable income you type, gives the gain whatever room remains at 0 percent, then at 15 percent, then puts the rest at 20 percent. Qualified dividends can use the same preferential rates on a real return. This page has one gain box. If qualified dividends belong in that stack, they have to be inside the number you type as long-term gain, or the result is only the gain.
Short-term capital gain is ordinary. It does not use section 4.03. Putting a short-term gain in the long-term box will understate the tax whenever the ordinary rate is above the preferential rate. The ordinary tax on the income you typed is not shown here either. A person in the 22 percent ordinary bracket still owes that ordinary tax on the $40,000. This page reports only the tax on the long-term gain. Add the two only after you have computed the ordinary tax somewhere else, such as the bracket page, and only if you have not counted the gain twice.
The 3.8 percent tax is not in the result
IRS Topic 559 says a 3.8 percent net investment income tax applies to individuals on the lesser of net investment income or the amount by which modified adjusted gross income exceeds a threshold. The thresholds on that page are $250,000 for married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse, $125,000 for married filing separately, and $200,000 for single or head of household. A long-term gain can be net investment income. This calculator does not compare modified adjusted gross income with those thresholds and does not add 3.8 percent. Someone over the threshold can owe that tax on top of the 0, 15, or 20 percent figure. Treating this page's result as the full federal tax on the gain would leave that out.
Two other limits are also outside the three amounts. The revenue procedure's section 4.03 table is the maximum zero-rate and 15 percent amounts under the capital-gain rules it cites. Gains that the code taxes at a different maximum rate are not peeled out of the box. Losses, the annual limit on deducting capital losses, carryovers, and the basis of the shares you sold are not computed. Type the gain you have already measured. A loss typed as a positive number will be taxed as a gain. State tax on capital gains is not estimated. The paycheck page is wages, FICA, and ordinary brackets, not a sale of stock.
Giuseppe Ilarda, the site owner, writes and checks the stacking against the revenue procedure's lines. The disclaimer says this is not tax advice. A decision to sell, to harvest a loss, or to wait a day so a gain becomes long-term is not something this arithmetic can make. If a preparer and this page disagree, compare the ordinary taxable income, the filing status, and whether the 3.8 percent tax was part of their number and not part of this one.