Crypto Tax Calculator
Estimate the federal tax on a crypto sale using 2026 IRS brackets — with the correct holding-period rule, not a rough guess.
2026 Capital Gains Estimator
One buy → one sell. All math runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
This is a federal estimate for one lot using 2026 brackets. It doesn't include state tax, AMT, or special situations (collectibles rate, unrecaptured §1250, etc.). For many trades across wallets and exchanges, crypto tax software computes every lot automatically. Educational use only — not tax advice.
How the math works
- Gain or loss = (sell price − buy price) × quantity − fees.
- Holding period: the IRS counts from the day after you acquire the asset through the day you sell. Sell more than one year after the buy date → long-term. One year or less → short-term. (IRS Topic 409)
- Short-term gains are taxed like ordinary income — we stack your gain on top of your other income and run it through the 2026 ordinary brackets (10%–37%).
- Long-term gains get preferential rates — we stack the gain on top of your other income and apply the 2026 capital-gains thresholds (0% / 15% / 20%).
- Losses first offset gains; up to $3,000 per year ($1,500 if married filing separately) can offset ordinary income, the rest carries forward.
Common questions
Related: 2026 capital gains rates guide · Cost basis methods · Tax-loss harvesting estimator
A worked example, checked against this calculator
Sample figures only — an illustration of how this calculator works, not tax advice. Suppose you bought 0.25 BTC at $40,000 per coin on June 15, 2024, paying $25 in total fees, and sold it at $100,000 per coin on March 2, 2026. You file as single with $60,000 of other taxable income for 2026.
Entering those figures above gives sale proceeds of $25,000.00, a cost basis of $10,025.00 (the $10,000 purchase price plus the $25 of fees), and a capital gain of $14,975.00. The holding period is 625 days — more than one year — so the gain is long-term. Stacked on top of $60,000 of other income, the entire gain sits above the single filer’s 0% threshold for 2026 and is taxed at 15%, producing an estimated federal tax of $2,246.25, an effective rate of 15.0% on this gain. No net investment income tax applies at this income level.
Two things this estimate deliberately leaves out: state income tax, which most states apply to capital gains at their own rates, and any other lots you sold during the year, which are netted together on your return before the rates are applied. It also assumes the basis and proceeds you enter are the final figures; if a broker later reports different amounts on Form 1099-DA, the return is prepared from the documents, not from this estimate.
The bracket thresholds used above are the IRS inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, published in Revenue Procedure 2025-32; the holding-period and loss-limit rules are summarised in IRS Topic No. 409.
Embed this calculator on your site
This calculator is free to use on any website or blog — just paste the snippet below where you want it to appear. The only condition is that the built-in “Powered by CryptoTaxAI” attribution link stays in place; it is part of the widget and keeps the tool free for everyone.