2024 capital gains tax brackets, and where the 0% rate actually stops
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Sell an asset you have held over a year and the rate depends on your total taxable income, not a flat percentage tied to the sale. Here are the exact 2024 thresholds, and what changes if you sell a day too soon.
For 2024, long-term capital gains — profit on an asset held more than a year — are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on your total taxable income for the year, not a flat rate tied to the sale itself. A single filer stays in the 0% band up to $47,025 of taxable income; above $518,900, every additional dollar of gain is taxed at 20%. Sell the same asset a day before its one-year holding period is up, and none of this applies — the gain is taxed as ordinary income instead, at rates up to 37%.
The 2024 long-term capital gains brackets
Unlike the seven-bracket ordinary income tax scale, long-term capital gains use just three rates. The gain is added on top of your other taxable income to determine which band it falls into — it does not get its own separate calculation from zero.
| Filing status | 0% rate | 15% rate | 20% rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | up to $47,025 | $47,025 – $518,900 | above $518,900 |
| Married filing jointly | up to $94,050 | $94,050 – $583,750 | above $583,750 |
| Married filing separately | up to $47,025 | $47,025 – $291,850 | above $291,850 |
| Head of household | up to $63,000 | $63,000 – $551,350 | above $551,350 |
These breakpoints come from the IRS's 2024 Instructions for Schedule D, specifically the Schedule D Tax Worksheet used to compute tax when a return includes capital gains. They are indexed for inflation every year and are not the same figures used for the ordinary income brackets, even though both move for similar reasons.
Long-term versus short-term is the decision that matters most
The rates above apply only to assets held for more than one year before the sale. Sell something you have owned for a year or less, and the entire gain is taxed as ordinary income instead — at your regular 2024 bracket, up to 37% for the highest earners — with no 0% or 15% band available at all. The holding period is counted from the day after you acquired the asset through the day you sold it; one day short of a full year is enough to lose long-term treatment entirely.
A gain that crosses the 20% threshold
The clearest way to see the stacking effect is a filer whose income sits right at the edge of a bracket. Take a single filer with $500,000 of other 2024 taxable income who sells stock for a $50,000 long-term gain.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Other 2024 taxable income | $500,000 |
| Long-term capital gain | $50,000 |
| Combined taxable income | $550,000 |
| Gain taxed at 15% (income up to $518,900) | $18,900 → $2,835 tax |
| Gain taxed at 20% (income above $518,900) | $31,100 → $6,220 tax |
| Total capital gains tax | $9,055 |
The combined income of $550,000 crosses the $518,900 threshold, so only the $31,100 of gain that falls above the line is taxed at 20% — the rest still gets the 15% rate. Total tax on the gain is $9,055, an effective rate of about 18.1% on the $50,000 gain itself. Had the identical $50,000 instead been a short-term gain — the asset sold within a year of purchase — it would stack onto ordinary income entirely inside the 2024 35% bracket, which runs up to $609,350 for a single filer, producing $17,500 in tax: $8,445 more than the long-term result, from timing alone.
The 3.8% surtax that sits on top of all this
High earners face one more layer: the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT), an additional 3.8% on investment income — including capital gains — once modified adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 for a single filer, $250,000 married filing jointly, or $125,000 married filing separately. The tax applies to the smaller of your net investment income or the amount your income exceeds the threshold. In the example above, the filer's income is far above $200,000, so the entire $50,000 gain is subject to NIIT, adding $1,900 — bringing the total federal bill on that single sale to $10,955. Unlike the capital gains brackets, these NIIT thresholds are fixed in the statute and have not moved since the tax took effect in 2013; see the IRS's Net Investment Income Tax page for how net investment income itself is defined.
Losses reduce the bill too, just slowly if they are large
Capital losses offset capital gains dollar for dollar with no limit. If losses exceed gains for the year, up to $3,000 of the excess ($1,500 if married filing separately) can offset ordinary income like wages. Anything left over does not disappear — it carries forward to future tax years indefinitely, applied the same way each year until it is used up. This $3,000 annual limit against ordinary income is a longstanding figure, not one that is adjusted for inflation, per the IRS's own Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses.
Federal is rarely the whole story
Everything above is federal tax only. Most states with an income tax add their own layer on top, and the majority of them tax capital gains as ordinary income with no separate lower rate the way the federal system does — a state that taxes wages at 5% generally taxes a stock sale at the same 5%. A handful of states charge no income tax at all, in which case none of this applies at the state level. Check your own state's rules separately; nothing about the federal brackets above says anything about what a state return will show.
What to confirm before assuming a rate applies
- Confirm the holding period first — one day under a year moves the entire gain out of these brackets and into ordinary income rates instead.
- Add the gain to your other 2024 taxable income before checking which rate band it falls into; a gain can straddle two rates, as in the example above.
- If your income is near $200,000 single or $250,000 married filing jointly, check separately whether the Net Investment Income Tax applies — it is not folded into the rates in the table above.
Sources
- IRS: 2024 Instructions for Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses
- IRS: Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses
- IRS: Net Investment Income Tax
- IRS: IRS provides tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2024
This is general information, not tax advice. It covers 2024 federal capital gains rules only; state tax, the Net Investment Income Tax, and your specific holdings and filing situation can change the result substantially. For a decision about your own return, consult a licensed tax preparer or the IRS directly.