Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Boldin.
You did everything right. You kept your income moderate, sold some appreciated stock, and assumed most of your gains would land in the 0% capital gains bracket. Then you filed, and your capital gains tax was an unpleasant surprise.
How Do Capital Gains Push You Into a Higher Tax Bracket?
Capital gains and qualified dividends can quietly bump you into a higher capital gains bracket because they layer on top of taxable income in your return. When the total reaches above certain income thresholds, it can expose more of your profits to taxes than you expected.
It’s a dynamic that affects any investor whose total taxable income crosses a bracket threshold.
Think of your tax return like a bucket. Ordinary income fills the lower brackets first, and your gains land in whatever space is left. That’s why a little extra income can nudge more of your investment profits into a higher capital gains rate.
What Are the Capital Gains Tax Brackets for 2026?
The IRS applies three preferential rates to long-term capital gains on assets held for more than a year, and the rate you pay depends on your total taxable income. (The IRS taxes short-term gains on assets held a year or less as ordinary income.)
For 2026, the long-term capital gains rates and income levels are:
- 0% if your taxable income is $98,900 or less (married filing jointly), $49,450 or less (single or married filing separately), or $66,200 or less (head of household).
- 15% if your taxable income exceeds those amounts up to $613,700 (jointly), $545,500 (single), $306,850 (married filing separately), or $579,600 (head of household).
- 20% once your taxable income clears those upper thresholds.
Note: These thresholds adjust annually for inflation. Always confirm the current tax year’s limits before making decisions.
For a married couple filing jointly, if your taxable income (after deductions) is $80,000, you still have about $18,900 of remaining room in the 0% bracket before you eclipse $98,900. Long-term gains above that amount are subject to 15% tax. That room can disappear quickly when you receive income from multiple sources.
Why Is Capital Gains Tax More Complicated in Retirement?
Retirement complicates capital gains taxes because, for many retirees, it’s the first time they’re taking substantial gains, selling positions that may have appreciated for decades to help fund living expenses.
This can catch them off guard because they’re often drawing income from multiple sources (Social Security, pensions, IRA withdrawals, brokerage accounts) that compete for the same bracket space, leaving less room for their gains to land tax-free.
Traditional IRA withdrawals are treated as ordinary income, so they fill the lower brackets before capital gains are added. This is something to keep in mind if you’re drawing down a large IRA in the same year you sell investments that have appreciated.
Social Security adds another layer. Up to 85% of your benefit can be subject to tax depending on your combined income, and capital gains count toward that total amount.
A large gain that you take in a given year can unexpectedly make more of your Social Security benefits taxable, compounding the impact in ways that aren’t obvious when you look at the gain alone.
Then there’s IRMAA, income-related surcharges on Medicare Part B and Part D premiums. They are recalculated each year based on your income from two years earlier. Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) — your adjusted gross income with deductions like tax-exempt interest added back — can trigger IRMAA if it crosses certain thresholds.
Individually, each of these factors is manageable. Together, they make timing and coordination critical. That’s why the order and timing of withdrawals across account types, called tax sequencing, matters so much to retirement planning.
How Do You Know If Capital Gains Will Cost You More in Taxes?
The most direct way to anticipate the tax impact of long-term capital gains is to compare your expected taxable ordinary income against the 0% bracket ceiling for your filing status. Any remaining “headroom” is where gains can be taxed at 0%.
A few situations to watch out for:
- Multiple income streams converging at once, like a pension, Social Security, RMDs, and taxable withdrawals in the same year, will occupy your lower bracket space fast.
- A single high-income year can follow you into future Medicare bills. IRMAA surcharges are calculated on income from two years prior, so the cost shows up well after the fact.
- RMDs beginning around age 73 for most tax-deferred retirement accounts will raise your baseline ordinary income. Any gains realized on top of that from a rebalance, a property sale, or a large brokerage distribution will likely hit the 15% bracket.
Running the numbers before realizing gains is one of the most effective ways to avoid surprises.
What’s the Net Investment Income Tax, and When Does It Apply?
The Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) is an extra 3.8% tax that applies on top of your capital gains rate. It kicks in when your MAGI exceeds $250,000 for married couples, $200,000 for singles, or $125,000 for married filing separately. The tax applies to the lesser of: your net investment income, or the amount your MAGI exceeds those thresholds.
The NIIT threshold isn’t indexed for inflation, so more investors are impacted over time. Many retirees cross it each year simply because of their rising account values and required minimum distributions.
Once you’re above it, the effective rate — the total percentage you owe after combining base taxes and surcharges — on some long-term gains can reach 18.8% or 23.8%. That ends up closer to ordinary income tax levels than most people expect when they think of “preferential rates.” A large Roth conversion, a home or business sale, or a busy year of portfolio rebalancing can push you above those income levels before you realize it.
How Can You Reduce Capital Gains Tax Impact in Retirement?
The most effective way to reduce capital gains tax in retirement is to avoid absorbing too much income in a single year. That means being deliberate and strategic about when you take gains and which accounts you draw from.
All of the following strategies work together. The Boldin Planner is built to help you model and think through the timing of each.
1. Spread gains across tax years
Realizing large gains all at once is often how retirees accidentally end up in a higher bracket. Selling across two or three years gives you a better chance of keeping your total income below thresholds for the 15% capital gains bracket, Social Security taxation, or the NIIT.
2. Be selective about which positions you sell
Within a taxable account, not every position has the same tax burden. Selling shares you purchased at the highest price first provides the income you need while keeping your tax liability lower. You can hold positions with large gains and a lower cost basis longer, harvest them against losses, or donate them directly to charity instead of selling.
3. Consider tax-loss harvesting
In taxable brokerage accounts, you can sell underperforming positions to generate losses that offset realized gains. This can substantially reduce the net capital gains that stack on top of your ordinary income each year.
4. Do Roth conversions in lower-income years
The years between retirement and when Social Security and RMDs kick in generally provide the best window for Roth conversions. Converting assets from traditional IRAs to Roth accounts reduces your future ordinary income, leaving more room for your long-term capital gains to land at 0% when distributions start.
5. Withdraw funds strategically
The order in which you draw from taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts in any given year can have real consequences for your tax bill. There’s no universal right answer because it depends on your complete income picture, Social Security timing, projected RMDs, and your asset holdings.
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