Capital Gains Tax When Selling a Home Calculator 2026

The $250,000 exclusion does most of the work

Sell a home you lived in and the tax code gives you a gift first: under IRC §121, if you owned the home and lived in it for at least 2 of the last 5 years, the first $250,000.00 of gain is excluded from tax entirely — $500,000.00 if you are married filing jointly. Only what is left is taxable, and it is taxed at the capital gains rates of 0%, 15% and 20%, stacking on top of your other taxable income. On the defaults — sale price $750,000, adjusted basis $400,000, selling costs $45,000, filing status single, qualified yes, other taxable income $80,000, state tax rate 0% — the total gain is $305,000.00, the exclusion is $250,000.00, and the taxable gain is $55,000.00. The 0% band ends at $49,450.00 for a single filer, and the $80,000.00 of other income already fills it, so the whole $55,000.00 falls in the 15% band: the capital gains tax is $8,250.00. The NIIT is $0.00 — MAGI is $135,000.00, below the $200,000.00 threshold. The total federal tax is $8,250.00, the effective rate on the taxable gain is 15.00%, and the after-tax proceeds are $696,750.00.

At the defaults — sale price $750,000, adjusted basis $400,000, selling costs $45,000, filing status single, qualified yes, other taxable income $80,000, state tax rate 0% — the total gain is $305,000.00, the exclusion is $250,000.00, the taxable gain is $55,000.00, at 0% $0.00, at 15% $55,000.00, at 20% $0.00, the capital gains tax is $8,250.00, the NIIT is $0.00, the state tax is $0.00, the total federal tax is $8,250.00, the total tax is $8,250.00, the effective rate on the taxable gain is 15.00%, the after-tax proceeds are $696,750.00, and MAGI is $135,000.00. Check the identities: total gain = sale price − basis − selling costs; exclusion = $250,000.00 single ($500,000.00 MFJ) when qualified, else $0.00; taxable gain = gain − exclusion, floored at $0.00; at 0% = the part of the gain under the 0% threshold after other income; at 15% = the part between the 0% and 20% thresholds; at 20% = the part above the 20% threshold; capital gains tax = 15% × the 15% slice + 20% × the 20% slice; NIIT = 3.8% × the smaller of the taxable gain and MAGI over the threshold; state tax = taxable gain × state rate; total federal tax = capital gains tax + NIIT; total tax = total federal tax + state tax; effective rate = total federal tax ÷ taxable gain; after-tax proceeds = sale price − selling costs − total tax. Rounding convention: totals are computed from unrounded values, so rounded parts may differ by a cent from their rounded sum.

The worked example, line by line

Setup: sale price $750,000, adjusted basis $400,000, selling costs $45,000, filing status single, qualified yes, other taxable income $80,000, state tax rate 0%.

Line 1 — the total gain. $750,000 − $400,000 − $45,000 = $305,000.00.

Line 2 — the exclusion. Single and qualified, so $250,000.00: $305,000.00 − $250,000.00 = $55,000.00 taxable.

Line 3 — the bands. The 0% band ends at $49,450.00 for a single filer and the $80,000.00 of other income already fills it, so $0.00 falls in the 0% band. The 15% band ends at $545,500.00, so the whole $55,000.00 falls in the 15% band, and $0.00 in the 20% band.

Line 4 — the capital gains tax. $55,000.00 × 15% = $8,250.00.

Line 5 — the NIIT. MAGI is $80,000.00 + $55,000.00 = $135,000.00, below the $200,000.00 threshold for a single filer, so the NIIT is $0.00. The excluded $250,000.00 is exempt from NIIT — only the taxable gain counts.

Line 6 — the total. $8,250.00 + $0.00 + $0.00 state tax = $8,250.00 total tax. Effective rate on the taxable gain: $8,250.00 ÷ $55,000.00 = 15.00%. After-tax proceeds: $750,000.00 − $45,000.00 − $8,250.00 = $696,750.00.

Reverse: the highest sale price with $0 federal tax, single, is $695,000.00 ($400,000.00 + $45,000.00 + $250,000.00); at $695,000.00 the tax is $0.00, at $695,001.00 it is $0.15. Married filing jointly, the highest sale price with $0 tax is $945,000.00. The sale price for exactly $10,000.00 of tax is $761,666.67 (exact $761,666.6667); at that price the tax is $10,000.00 (unrounded $10,000.0005), at $1 less it is $9,999.85 (unrounded $9,999.8505) — $761,666.67 is the nearest. The largest taxable gain still taxed at 0%, with $30,000.00 of other income, is $19,450.00; the sale price for that gain is $714,450.00, and at $1 more sale price the tax is $0.15. The NIIT starts when other income reaches $145,000.00 with a $55,000.00 taxable gain; at that income the NIIT is $0.00, at $1 more it is $0.04. The basis needed for $0 tax at a $750,000.00 sale is $455,000.00; at that basis the tax is $0.00, at $1 less basis it is $0.15.

Every branch, checked

Sale $600,000: gain $155,000.00, taxable $0.00 — $0 tax — fully excluded. At $600,000 the gain is $155,000.00, inside the $250,000.00 exclusion, so the taxable gain is $0.00 and the tax is $0.00 — $0 tax, fully excluded.

Sale $900,000: gain $455,000.00, taxable $205,000.00 — 15% band. At $900,000 the gain is $455,000.00 and the taxable gain is $205,000.00, all in the 15% band: the capital gains tax is $30,750.00 and the NIIT is $3,230.00, for a total federal tax of $33,980.00.

Sale $1,500,000: gain $1,055,000.00, taxable $805,000.00 — 20% band reached. At $1,500,000 the gain is $1,055,000.00 and the taxable gain is $805,000.00: $465,500.00 at 15% and $339,500.00 at 20%, so the capital gains tax is $137,725.00, the NIIT is $26,030.00, and the total federal tax is $163,755.00 — the 20% band is reached.

MFJ, sale $750,000: gain $305,000.00, taxable $0.00 — $0 tax — fully excluded. Married filing jointly doubles the exclusion to $500,000.00, so at $750,000 the taxable gain is $0.00 and the tax is $0.00 — $0 tax, fully excluded.

MFJ, sale $1,200,000: gain $755,000.00, taxable $255,000.00 — 0% and 15% bands. Married filing jointly at $1,200,000: the taxable gain is $255,000.00, of which $236,100.00 falls in the 15% band, so the capital gains tax is $35,415.00, the NIIT is $3,230.00, and the total federal tax is $38,645.00.

Not qualified, sale $750,000: gain $305,000.00, taxable $305,000.00 — 15% band. Without the 2-of-5-years qualification there is no exclusion at all: the taxable gain is the full $305,000.00, the capital gains tax is $45,750.00, the NIIT is $7,030.00, and the total federal tax is $52,780.00.

Other income $30,000: gain $305,000.00, taxable $55,000.00 — 0% and 15% bands. With only $30,000 of other income, $19,450.00 of the gain falls in the 0% band and $35,550.00 in the 15% band, so the capital gains tax is $5,332.50 — lower other income pulls the gain down into the 0% band.

Other income $0: gain $305,000.00, taxable $55,000.00 — 0% and 15% bands. With no other income at all, $49,450.00 of the gain falls in the 0% band and $5,550.00 in the 15% band, so the capital gains tax is only $832.50.

State tax 5%: gain $305,000.00, taxable $55,000.00 — 15% band. A 5% state tax adds $2,750.00 on the $55,000.00 taxable gain, so the total tax is $11,000.00 — the federal tax is unchanged at $8,250.00.

Basis $500,000: gain $205,000.00, taxable $0.00 — $0 tax — fully excluded. With a $500,000 basis the gain is $205,000.00, inside the $250,000.00 exclusion, so the taxable gain is $0.00 and the tax is $0.00.

Selling costs $0: gain $350,000.00, taxable $100,000.00 — 15% band. With no selling costs the gain is $350,000.00 and the taxable gain is $100,000.00, all in the 15% band, so the capital gains tax is $15,000.00.

Head of household: gain $305,000.00, taxable $55,000.00 — 15% band. Head of household at these inputs gives the same answer as single: the capital gains tax is $8,250.00 and the NIIT is $0.00, for a total federal tax of $8,250.00 — the head-of-household 0% threshold of $66,200.00 is already below the $80,000.00 of other income.

Married filing separately: gain $305,000.00, taxable $55,000.00 — 15% band. Married filing separately keeps the $250,000.00 exclusion, but the NIIT threshold drops to $125,000.00: the capital gains tax is $8,250.00, the NIIT is $380.00, and the total federal tax is $8,630.00.

Other income $545,500: gain $305,000.00, taxable $55,000.00 — 20% band reached. With $545,500.00 of other income the gain is pushed entirely into the 20% band: the capital gains tax is $11,000.00, the NIIT is $2,090.00, and the total federal tax is $13,090.00.

What the defaults assume

The model assumes the 2026 capital gains thresholds from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32: the 0% band ends at $49,450.00 single, $98,900.00 married filing jointly, $66,200.00 head of household and $49,450.00 married filing separately; the 15% band ends at $545,500.00 single, $613,700.00 married filing jointly, $579,600.00 head of household and $306,850.00 married filing separately; above that the rate is 20%. It assumes the IRC §121 exclusion of $250,000.00 single ($500,000.00 married filing jointly) when you owned and lived in the home for at least 2 of the last 5 years, and $0.00 otherwise. It assumes the 3.8% net investment income tax applies to the smaller of the taxable gain and MAGI over $200,000.00 single ($250,000.00 married filing jointly, $125,000.00 married filing separately), where MAGI is other taxable income plus the taxable gain — the excluded gain is exempt. It assumes the state rate you enter applies to the whole taxable gain, with no state exclusion. It does not model depreciation recapture on a rental portion, the 2-of-5-years partial exclusion when you move for work or health, or any state-specific exclusion. With a sale price of $445,000.00 the gain is $0.00 and the tax is $0.00, and the after-tax proceeds are $400,000.00. With a sale price of $400,000.00 the gain is -$45,000.00 — a loss — and the tax is $0.00; the after-tax proceeds are $355,000.00. Rounding convention: totals are computed from unrounded values, so rounded parts may differ by a cent from their rounded sum; the reverses are nearest-value solutions, and the exact unrounded figures ($761,666.6667, $10,000.0005) are stated wherever the rounded figures appear.

Output · formula · meaning

Who uses this

• The homeowner selling for $750,000 after buying for $400,000: they learn the tax is only $8,250.00 — the $250,000.00 exclusion wipes out most of the gain — and they check the $600,000 branch ($0.00 tax) before accepting a lower offer.
• The couple selling for $1,200,000: they learn the $500,000.00 exclusion leaves a $255,000.00 taxable gain and the tax is $38,645.00 — and they check the $945,000 branch to see the highest price that still pays $0 tax.
• The seller who rented the home out for three years: they learn that without the 2-of-5-years qualification the exclusion is $0.00 and the tax jumps to $52,780.00 — so they check whether they can move back in to re-qualify before selling.
• The high earner with $545,500.00 of other income: they learn the whole gain is pushed into the 20% band and the tax is $13,090.00 — and they check the $30,000 branch ($5,332.50) to see how much a lower-income year would save.

Accuracy & limitations

The math is exact arithmetic on your seven inputs: total gain = sale price − basis − selling costs; exclusion = $250,000.00 single ($500,000.00 MFJ) when qualified, else $0.00; taxable gain = gain − exclusion, floored at $0.00; at 0% = the part of the gain under the 0% threshold after other income; at 15% = the part between the 0% and 20% thresholds; at 20% = the part above the 20% threshold; capital gains tax = 15% × the 15% slice + 20% × the 20% slice; NIIT = 3.8% × the smaller of the taxable gain and MAGI over the threshold; state tax = taxable gain × state rate; total federal tax = capital gains tax + NIIT; total tax = total federal tax + state tax; effective rate = total federal tax ÷ taxable gain; after-tax proceeds = sale price − selling costs − total tax. The 4-decimal exact is shown where the rounding matters: the sale price for exactly $10,000.00 of tax is $761,666.6667 (shown as $761,666.67); at $761,666.67 the unrounded tax is $10,000.0005, at $761,666.66 it is $9,999.9990. What the model cannot do is your actual tax return: depreciation recapture, partial exclusions, state-specific rules and the interaction with other income types are all outside it. For the bracket detail, see the 2026 capital gains tax brackets; for what the same sale leaves after all taxes, see the take-home pay calculator; for the quarterly payments on the gain, see the estimated quarterly tax calculator. This is a calculator, not tax advice.