2027 Capital Gains Tax Brackets by Filing Status

For 2027, the 0% long-term capital gains rate covers taxable income up to $51,050 for single filers and $102,100 for married couples filing jointly, and the 20% rate starts above $563,200 (single) and $633,600 (joint). The IRS set those thresholds in Rev. Proc. 2026-35, its annual inflation adjustment for tax year 2027. The three rates themselves, 0%, 15% and 20%, are fixed in the tax code and did not change.

The new thresholds apply to assets held more than one year and sold between January 1 and December 31, 2027. You report those sales on the return you file in spring 2028. Anything sold in 2026 still uses the 2026 thresholds from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, which are covered in our guide to 2026 capital gains tax rates and brackets by filing status.

Gains on assets held one year or less get no special rate. They are taxed as ordinary income at the regular 10% to 37% rates, using the 2027 federal income tax brackets.

Two other costs sit on top of the brackets and are not adjusted for inflation at all: the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, which starts at $200,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers, and the $250,000 / $500,000 home-sale exclusion, which has not moved since 1997. For immigrants who still own a flat in India or shares bought before moving, those fixed numbers often matter more than the brackets.

2027 long-term capital gains brackets by filing status

The thresholds below are levels of taxable income, meaning income after the standard or itemized deduction, not salary and not the sale price. Your long-term gain is taxed at 0% to the extent your total taxable income stays at or below the 0% line, at 15% between the two lines, and at 20% above the upper line.

Qualified dividends use the same three brackets. A qualifying surviving spouse uses the married-filing-jointly column, and estates and trusts have their own, much narrower bands.

Compared with 2026, every threshold moved by the inflation factor the IRS applied for 2027. The table below shows the exact dollar change for each line, which is the amount of extra gain (or extra other income) a seller can now absorb before reaching the next rate.

How the brackets work: gains stack on top of other income

The capital gains brackets are not a separate ladder that starts at zero. The IRS fills your taxable income in a fixed order: ordinary income first (wages, interest, short-term gains, rental profit), then long-term gains and qualified dividends on top. Only the slice of the gain that lands inside each band gets that band’s rate.

That ordering has two practical effects. A high salary can use up the whole 0% band before any gain is counted, so a well-paid H-1B worker rarely sees a 0% gain. And a large one-time sale can split across two rates: part at 0% or 15%, the rest at the next rate up. A gain never moves your wages into a higher ordinary bracket, because it is counted after them, but it can raise your adjusted gross income enough to trigger the 3.8% surtax and phase out credits that depend on income.

To run your own numbers with your filing status and income, try the VisaVerge capital gains tax calculator, and see how capital gains and losses are calculated if you need to work out your basis first.

Worked examples with the 2027 thresholds

Each example uses 2027 taxable income, after the standard deduction, and assumes the asset was held more than one year. Federal tax only; state tax comes on top in most states.

In example 1, the 0% band for single filers ends at $51,050, so the first $11,050 of the gain fills the space between the $40,000 of other income and that line. For the same facts in 2026, $9,450 would have been taxed at 0% and $20,550 at 15%, for $3,082.50 of tax, compared with $2,842.50 in 2027.

Example 3 shows why the fixed thresholds matter. The whole gain sits in the 15% band, but the sale lifts modified adjusted gross income $90,000 above the $200,000 NIIT line, so the surtax adds $3,420. The India tax paid on the same sale can then be claimed as a foreign tax credit against the $22,500, as explained below. In example 4, the 15% band for joint filers ends at $633,600; everything above it is taxed at 20%, and the NIIT applies to the full $200,000 because MAGI exceeds $250,000 by more than the gain.

Short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income

Sell an asset you held one year or less and the profit is a short-term gain, added to your wages and taxed at the ordinary rates of 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21) made those seven rates permanent, so only the bracket edges change each year. For 2027, the 37% rate starts at $661,375 of taxable income for single filers and $793,650 for joint filers.

The holding period runs from the day after you acquire the asset through the day you sell it. Shares from an RSU vest start a new holding period on the vesting date, and ESPP shares start on the purchase date, which is why employees who sell right after vesting pay ordinary rates on any rise. Waiting past the one-year mark can drop the rate on the same profit from 24% or 32% to 15%. Our 2027 tax brackets guide lists every ordinary bracket by filing status.

The 3.8% NIIT and the 25% and 28% special rates

The Net Investment Income Tax under Section 1411 adds 3.8% on the lesser of your net investment income or the amount by which modified adjusted gross income exceeds a threshold. Congress wrote those thresholds into the statute in 2010 and never indexed them, so they are the same in 2027 as when the tax began in 2013. More filers cross them every year as wages and asset values rise. Our explainer on the 3.8% NIIT and Form 8960 covers the calculation line by line.

Three kinds of long-term gain can be taxed above 15% even when your income sits in the 15% band. Unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, the part of a rental property gain that reflects depreciation you claimed, is taxed at up to 25%. Collectibles such as art, coins, stamps and most precious-metal holdings are taxed at up to 28%, and so is the taxable part of gain on Section 1202 qualified small business stock. These are maximum rates: if your ordinary bracket is lower, the lower rate applies.

Selling your home: the $250,000 and $500,000 exclusion

Under Section 121, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain on the sale of your main home, or up to $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned the home and lived in it as your main home for at least two of the five years before the sale. You can generally use the exclusion once every two years. The caps are written into the statute and are not indexed, so they are the same for 2027 sales as they were in 1997.

Only gain above the exclusion is taxed, and it is taxed at the 0%, 15% or 20% rates in the tables above (plus NIIT if your income is high enough). Depreciation you claimed for a home office or for years the home was rented cannot be excluded and is taxed as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at up to 25%. Proposals in Congress to raise or remove the caps have been introduced but not enacted as of October 2026. See our Section 121 ownership and use guide for partial exclusions after a job move.

Section 121 has no requirement that the home be in the United States. A flat in Bengaluru or Hyderabad that was your main home for two of the five years before you sell it can qualify, which helps recent arrivals who sell within about three years of moving. Once you have lived in the US for more than three years, the old home usually fails the use test and the full gain is taxable.

Selling property in India as a US tax resident

Green card holders, and visa holders who meet the substantial presence test, owe US tax on worldwide income. A sale of land, a flat or Indian shares therefore goes on your US return (Form 8949 and Schedule D) and uses the same 2027 brackets as a US sale. India also taxes the gain, because the property is there. The US-India tax treaty leaves both countries with taxing rights and relieves double tax through the foreign tax credit.

• Compute the US gain in dollars. Convert the purchase price at the exchange rate on the purchase date and the sale price at the rate on the sale date. A falling rupee can shrink or even erase a gain that looks large in rupees.
• Count the US holding period separately. More than one year makes it long-term for the US. India’s line for property is 24 months, so a flat sold after 18 months is long-term in the US but short-term in India.
• Expect Indian tax and withholding. For a non-resident seller, India taxes long-term property gains at 12.5% plus surcharge and cess, without indexation, and the buyer must withhold tax from the sale price. A lower-deduction certificate from the Indian tax department can reduce that withholding.
• Claim the foreign tax credit on Form 1116. The Indian tax on the gain can offset the US capital gains tax on the same gain, up to the limit the form calculates. Our guide to the foreign tax credit for NRIs walks through the passive-income basket and the capital gain adjustment.
• Report the proceeds. Sale money sitting in an NRO or NRE account counts toward FBAR and Form 8938 thresholds. See what US tax residents with Indian property sales must review.

Timing also differs. India’s financial year runs April to March, while the US year is the calendar year, so the Indian return for a sale in, say, February 2027 is due in a different cycle from the 2027 US return. Keep the sale deed, the buyer’s withholding certificate and the Indian return together so you can document the credit if the IRS asks.

Nonresidents: FIRPTA withholding and US stock gains

Nonresident aliens are in a different position. Gains on US stocks are generally not taxed by the US for a nonresident who spends fewer than 183 days in the US during the year. US real estate is the exception: under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA), the buyer must generally withhold 15% of the sale price, not the gain, when the seller is a foreign person.

No withholding is required when the buyer will live in the home and the price is $300,000 or less, and a reduced 10% rate applies when the buyer will live in it and the price is $1 million or less. The seller then files Form 1040-NR, pays tax on the actual gain at the same 0%, 15% and 20% rates, and gets back any excess withholding. Sellers who expect a small gain can apply on Form 8288-B for a lower withholding amount before closing.

Losses and the wash-sale rule

Capital losses first offset capital gains of the same year. If losses are larger, up to $3,000 of the net loss ($1,500 if married filing separately) reduces other income, and the rest carries forward with no time limit. That $3,000 figure is not indexed either.

Selling a losing position to bank the loss works only if you avoid a wash sale. If you buy substantially identical stock or securities within 30 days before or after the sale, the loss is disallowed for now. It is added to the cost basis of the new shares, and the holding period of the old shares carries over. Purchases in an IRA or by a spouse can also trigger the rule, so check every account before harvesting losses in December 2027.

What to do before you sell in 2027

1. Check the holding period for each lot. A sale a few weeks after the one-year mark can cut the rate from your ordinary bracket to 15% or 0%.
2. Estimate 2027 taxable income without the sale, then add the gain and see which part lands in each band of the 2027 table.
3. Test the NIIT lines of $200,000 (single) and $250,000 (joint) against modified adjusted gross income, since they are not indexed.
4. For property abroad, gather the purchase deed, exchange rates for both dates and proof of Indian tax paid before you file Form 1116.
5. Pay estimated tax for the quarter of a large sale, because payroll withholding usually does not cover a one-time gain.

Source for the 2027 thresholds is the IRS inflation adjustment in Rev. Proc. 2026-35; the 2026 figures come from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, and the special rates and loss limits are summarized in IRS Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses.

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