{"id":9902,"date":"2026-01-06T04:19:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=9902"},"modified":"2026-01-06T22:55:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T06:55:55","slug":"capital-gains-tax-brackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/capital-gains-tax-brackets\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Capital Gains Tax Brackets for 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rejoice in this: Rarely do homeowners have to pay taxes on the money they make from <\/span>selling their house<\/span><\/a>. The IRS allows you to exclude up to $250,000 (or $500,000 if you\u2019re married) of \u201c<\/span>capital gain<\/span><\/a>\u201d on your main home, which means most sellers are covered.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s possible you <\/span>will<\/span><\/i> owe taxes on your home sale. Perhaps you moved before meeting the <\/span>two-year use test<\/span><\/a> or earned more than the exclusion cap due to skyrocketing prices. Whatever the case, the next question in your mind is \u2014 <\/span>what tax rate do I fall under?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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\n \"homelight\n <\/div>\n \n

A quick (and free) way to check your home value<\/h3>\n

Get a preliminary home value estimate in as little as two minutes. Our tool uses information from multiple sources to give you a range of value based on current market trends.<\/p>\n \n

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Your tax rate depends on several factors, like the length of time you\u2019ve owned the property, your income level, and your filing status. We\u2019ve scoured the most recent IRS instructions on capital gains and had accounting expert <\/span>A.J. Gross<\/span><\/a>, CPA, EA, Founder and President of ALG Tax Solutions, break it all down for us into this handy guide on capital gains tax brackets for home sellers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on to find out your rate (as of 2026 tax rules) and how to calculate your taxes!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your home sale is likely tax-free. But in the event that it\u2019s not, follow this guide to short and long-term capital gains tax brackets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":39436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[343,322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finances","category-logistics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Are the Capital Gains Tax Brackets for 2026?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your home sale is likely tax-free. But in the event that it\u2019s not, follow this guide to short and long-term capital gains tax brackets.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/capital-gains-tax-brackets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Are the Capital Gains Tax Brackets for 2026?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your home sale is likely tax-free. But in the event that it\u2019s not, follow this guide to short and long-term capital gains tax brackets.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/capital-gains-tax-brackets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-06T12:19:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T06:55:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Untitled-design-40.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ashwini Basker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashwini Basker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Are the Capital Gains Tax Brackets for 2026?","description":"Your home sale is likely tax-free. 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