Realized on a holding period of one year or less.
Entered positive.
Realized on a holding period of more than one year.
Entered positive.
Carried in from a prior year under IRC section 1212(b).
Short-term gains and the section 1211(b) deduction both meet this rate.
IRC section 1211(b) allows $3,000 a year, and $1,500 on a separate return.
Sets the IRC section 1091 window, 30 days either side.
Wash-sale window, IRC section 1091
2026-02-13 to 2026-04-14
61 days, counting the sale date and 30 days either side. IRC section 1091 disallows a loss where substantially identical stock or securities are acquired inside that window, and the disallowed amount is added to the basis of the replacement shares rather than lost. Whether two securities are substantially identical is a judgment about the securities, not an arithmetic step, so it is outside this calculation.
Hypothetical illustration of federal mechanics, computed only from the figures entered. Both tax rates are typed rather than looked up, so every dollar figure moves with them.
Outside this calculation: state and local tax, the net investment income tax under IRC section 1411, the alternative minimum tax, wash-sale interaction across accounts including an individual retirement account, the constructive-sale and straddle rules, and whether two securities are substantially identical under IRC section 1091. The carryforward’s future effect is not estimated, because it depends on rates and gains in years that have not happened.
Realized capital losses first cancel realized capital gains of the same holding period, then cancel gains of the other period, and what remains reduces ordinary income up to an annual limit. Beyond that limit the loss does not disappear: it carries into future years and keeps its short-term or long-term character. This estimator runs that order on the figures entered.
A year with $2,000 of short-term gains, $9,000 of short-term losses, $4,000 of long-term gains and $3,000 of long-term losses nets to -$7,000 short-term and +$1,000 long-term. The categories offset to a $6,000 net capital loss. IRC section 1211(b) takes $3,000 against ordinary income, and IRC section 1212(b) carries the remaining $3,000 forward as a short-term loss.
Treating the annual limit as the whole benefit. The amount above it carries forward without expiring, so a large loss reaches ordinary income over several years rather than being lost.