This dataset lists the 2026 federal long-term capital-gains (LTCG) tax brackets. Unlike ordinary-income brackets, CG brackets are TOTAL-income thresholds: your ordinary taxable income fills them from the bottom, and your long-term gain stacks on top through the 0/15/20% bands. Each row also shows an illustrative figure — the tax on a $10,000 long-term gain for a filer whose other ordinary income sits exactly at that bracket's floor, computed by calling the production capitalGainsTax() function (so it includes NIIT wherever it applies). A second table lists the NIIT threshold and rate. The table is sortable by any column; the full data is also available as CSV and JSON below.
What this is: A structured, per-bracket snapshot of the capital-gains rate schedule that matters most for realized-gain and Roth-conversion timing — pulled directly from the same tax-constants mirror and function that power the QuantCalc calculator, so the numbers here are never out of sync with the app.
Full bracket table (12 rows)
Click any column header to sort. All 12 rows are shown, or download the CSV/JSON for offline analysis.
| Filing Status | Bracket | Total Income From | Total Income To | LTCG Rate | Tax on $10,000 Gain (at bracket floor) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 1 | $0 | $49,450 | 0% | $0 |
| Single | 2 | $49,450 | $545,500 | 15% | $1,500 |
| Single | 3 | $545,500 | No limit | 20% | $2,380 |
| Married Filing Jointly | 1 | $0 | $98,900 | 0% | $0 |
| Married Filing Jointly | 2 | $98,900 | $613,700 | 15% | $1,500 |
| Married Filing Jointly | 3 | $613,700 | No limit | 20% | $2,380 |
| Married Filing Separately | 1 | $0 | $49,450 | 0% | $0 |
| Married Filing Separately | 2 | $49,450 | $306,850 | 15% | $1,500 |
| Married Filing Separately | 3 | $306,850 | No limit | 20% | $2,380 |
| Head of Household | 1 | $0 | $66,200 | 0% | $0 |
| Head of Household | 2 | $66,200 | $579,600 | 15% | $1,500 |
| Head of Household | 3 | $579,600 | No limit | 20% | $2,380 |
CC-BY-4.0 — free for any use including republication and journalism, with attribution to QuantCalc Research.
Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)
The §1411 NIIT is a flat 3.8% surtax on the lesser of net investment income or the amount MAGI exceeds the filing-status threshold below. These thresholds are statutory and NOT inflation-indexed.
| Filing Status | NIIT Rate | MAGI Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Single | 3.8% | $200,000 |
| Married Filing Jointly | 3.8% | $250,000 |
| Married Filing Separately | 3.8% | $125,000 |
| Head of Household | 3.8% | $200,000 |
Methodology
Source: Every bracket and NIIT figure in this dataset is read directly from frontend/js/calc/constants-2026.js (QCConstants2026.CG_BRACKETS, NIIT) — QuantCalc's canonical client-side tax-constants mirror, transcribed verbatim from the frozen production C engine (backend/src/tax_calculator.c). The illustration column is not a bare literal: it is produced by calling federal-tax-2026.js's exported capitalGainsTax() function for each row. Nothing on this page is hand-transcribed from an IRS revenue procedure into HTML.
Consistency: This mirror is checked against the C engine by an exhaustive JS↔C parity test suite that sweeps a dense grid of inputs and asserts numeric agreement. That suite is what lets this dataset, the interactive calculator, and the C backend all report the same figures. As an additional build-time safeguard, this generator independently re-derives the tax on a $10,000 gain (single filer, ordinary income at the top bracket's floor — a case that exercises both the 20% top rate and the NIIT surtax) by hand and cross-checks it against capitalGainsTax()'s own output; the generator aborts if they disagree.
Scope: Covers the 3-bracket (0/15/20%) long-term capital-gains schedule for all 4 filing statuses, the illustrative tax on a $10,000 gain at each bracket floor, and the NIIT rate/threshold. It does not cover short-term capital gains (taxed as ordinary income — see the companion Federal Tax Brackets dataset) or state-level capital-gains treatment (see the State Retirement Tax Data / State Social Security Tax datasets).
Reproducibility: Generated by scripts/gen_capgains_dataset.mjs, which reads constants-2026.js directly, calls capitalGainsTax() for the illustration column, and writes this page plus the CSV/JSON alongside it. Re-running the generator against the same constants file and function reproduces byte-identical data rows.
Not tax advice: This is reference data for research and planning purposes, not a substitute for professional tax advice. Consult a qualified advisor before making decisions based on this table.
Turn these brackets into a conversion plan
A Roth conversion is ordinary income, but it can push other income — including capital gains — into a higher LTCG bracket or over the NIIT threshold. The Roth Conversion Planner models that stacking effect for your own numbers.
Plan your Roth conversions →Changelog
- v2026.1 — initial release. 12 bracket rows (4 filing statuses), generated from
constants-2026.js+federal-tax-2026.js.
Dataset license: CC-BY-4.0. QuantCalc is an independent retirement-planning research project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any state or federal agency, including the IRS. Not financial, tax, or legal advice.