How Much Capital Gains Tax Will You Pay on $1,000?
A $1,000 profit held over a year is taxed at 15% — $150, leaving $850. Sold sooner, the same profit can cost $240.
On a $1,000 profit, the tax turns almost entirely on one thing: whether you held the asset for more than a year. Long-term, at the common 15% rate, you owe $150 and keep $850. Short-term — sold at eleven months instead of thirteen — the profit is taxed as ordinary income, and at a 24% bracket that is $240, or $90 more for the sake of a few weeks.
Long-term rates come in three tiers — 0%, 15% and 20% — and which one applies depends on your total taxable income for the year, not on the size of the gain alone. That is why the table below runs the same $1,000 profit across all of them: a lower-income year can genuinely mean zero federal tax on this money. The calculator underneath is set to this scenario, so you can put in your real buy and sell prices.
Results
Net Gain
$10,578.25
BTC · After-Tax ROI: 52.84% · Holding Term: Long-term
Cash Kept
$30,598.25
Tax Drag
15.0%
Annualized ROI
32.7%
Capital Flow
Tax on a $1,000 gain — by rate and holding period
Federal only. The three long-term tiers depend on your total taxable income; short-term gains are taxed at your ordinary rate.
| Rate | Holding period | Tax owed | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | Over 1 year | $0 | $1,000 |
| 15% | Over 1 year | $150 | $850 |
| 20% | Over 1 year | $200 | $800 |
| 22% | Under 1 year | $220 | $780 |
| 24% | Under 1 year | $240 | $760 |
| 32% | Under 1 year | $320 | $680 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- At the 15% long-term rate, $150 — leaving $850. At 0% it is nothing, and at the top 20% tier it is $200. Which tier applies depends on your total taxable income for the year, so the same $1,000 gain can carry very different bills for two different people.
- One year and a day. Hold longer and the profit gets the preferential 0/15/20% rates. Sell sooner and it is added to your ordinary income and taxed at your normal bracket. On $1,000 that difference is $150 versus $240 — $90 for selling early.
- Four things genuinely work. Cross the one-year line before selling. Harvest losses elsewhere in the same year — they offset gains dollar for dollar. Spread the sale across two tax years so less of it lands in a high bracket. And hold assets inside a tax-advantaged account where the question does not arise. What does not work is reinvesting the proceeds: for stocks, the tax is triggered by the sale, not by what you do with the money afterwards.
- Usually yes. Most US states tax capital gains as ordinary income, and a handful do not tax income at all. The figures here are federal only, so add your state rate to see the real number — that can be several more points on $1,000.
- It is due for the tax year in which you sold, but waiting until April can trigger an underpayment penalty on a gain this size. If the sale is substantial, make a quarterly estimated payment for the quarter it happened in rather than settling the whole thing at filing.
Capital gains tax by profit
Profit amounts