Losses can be used to offset gains in the same year, or up to a 3K write off against other income (or both). Any loss beyond that carries forward to future years as a write of (again 3k per year). Don't re-buy same fund again within 30 days or you get a wash sale and can't write off the loss (until selling the wash shares in future). Answer from Huge-Power9305 on reddit.com
Reddit
reddit.com › r/fidelityinvestments › selling at a loss, any tax?
r/fidelityinvestments on Reddit: Selling at a loss, any tax?
March 6, 2025 -
I currently own 108 shares of VOO that are worth a total of $57k, I bought those shares back in January and February when prices are higher than the current price. I need about $20k in cash, so can I sell 30 shares of my VOO and withdraw that money? Since I will sell these shares at a lower price than when I bought them, will I need to pay any tax if I am losing money?
Top answer 1 of 19
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Losses can be used to offset gains in the same year, or up to a 3K write off against other income (or both). Any loss beyond that carries forward to future years as a write of (again 3k per year). Don't re-buy same fund again within 30 days or you get a wash sale and can't write off the loss (until selling the wash shares in future).
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No taxes owed for selling at a loss. This will actually help you a bit come tax time next year.
Internal Revenue Service
irs.gov › taxtopics › tc409
Topic no. 409, Capital gains and losses | Internal Revenue Service
Generally, an asset's basis is its cost to the owner, but if you received the asset as a gift or inheritance, refer to Publication 551, Basis of Assets for information about your basis. You have a capital gain if you sell the asset for more than your adjusted basis. You have a capital loss if you sell the asset for less than your adjusted basis. Losses from the sale of personal-use property, such as your home or car, aren't tax deductible.
Medium
genemarks.medium.com › with-stock-prices-falling-consider-tax-loss-harvesting-to-stay-invested-bd8745599738
With stock prices falling, consider ‘tax-loss harvesting’ to stay invested | by Gene Marks | Medium
March 18, 2025 - “You also stop the bleeding if that stock is doing poorly, and you sell it, you limit additional losses you might experience.” · The more you’re able to offset your losses against your gains — and even take advantage of the additional $3,000 deduction — you may be able to keep your income at the same tax bracket, or even move yourself to a lower tax bracket and pay less taxes.
Manulife Investment Management
manulifeim.com › retail › ca › en › viewpoints › tax-planning › tax-loss-selling-turning-a-capital-loss-into-a-tax-savings-win
How to use tax-loss selling to turn capital losses into tax savings | Manulife Investments
If the realized capital losses equal the realized capital gains, the investor has no capital gains tax to pay.
RBC Wealth Management
rbcwealthmanagement.com › home › insights › tax-loss selling – building a better understanding
Tax-loss selling – building a better understanding
November 1, 2023 - If that investor was in a 35 percent tax bracket, the taxes owing on the gain would therefore be $3,500. With tax-loss selling, investors are able to sell non-registered assets and investments that have dropped in value (this strategy does not apply to assets held within registered investments such as RRSPs or TFSAs), generating a loss that can then help decrease their tax bill.
NerdWallet
nerdwallet.com › taxes › learn › taxes-on-stocks
Taxes on Stocks: How They Work, When to Pay - NerdWallet
May 21, 2019 - However, you won't be taxed anything if you sell stock at a loss.
Canada.ca
canada.ca › en › revenue-agency › services › tax › individuals › topics › about-your-tax-return › tax-return › completing-a-tax-return › personal-income › line-12700-capital-gains › capital-losses-deductions.html
Capital losses - Canada.ca
This page provides information on capital losses and on different treatments of capital gains that may reduce your taxable income. Our Summary of loss application rules chart indicates the rules and annual deduction limit for each type of capital loss. You have a capital loss when you sell, or are considered to have sold, a capital property for less than its adjusted cost base (ACB) plus the outlays and expenses involved in selling the property.
Vanguard
investor.vanguard.com › home › investor resources & education › tax forms & information › maximize your tax savings with tax-loss harvesting
Tax-loss harvesting explained | Vanguard
Say you sell Investment A at a loss of $30,000, but you end up with $25,000 in realized gains from Investment B. Your losses would offset your entire gain, which means that you won't pay capital gains taxes—and you'll have $5,000 in losses ...
Realized1031
realized1031.com › blog › do-i-have-to-pay-tax-on-stocks-if-i-sell-and-reinvest
Do I Have to Pay Tax on Stocks If I Sell and Reinvest?
While no taxes are applied to losses, you can leverage the loss to offset gains. For example, if you lose $1000 on stock A and gain $1000 selling Stock B, the gain and loss balance each other and eliminate the taxes you would owe on the gain.
Published September 8, 2025
Edward Jones
edwardjones.ca › ca-en › market-news-insights › guidance-perspectives › tax-loss-selling
Understanding capital gains and tax-loss selling
Tax-loss selling is a strategy ... subject to on realized gains. This is achieved by selling investments at a loss to offset some or all the tax you pay on the realized gain....
Canada.ca
canada.ca › en › revenue-agency › services › tax › individuals › topics › about-your-tax-return › tax-return › completing-a-tax-return › personal-income › line-12700-capital-gains › calculating-reporting-your-capital-gains-losses.html
Calculating and reporting your capital gains and losses - Canada.ca
Report the disposition of capital ... whether or not the sale of a capital property results in a capital gain or loss, you have to file an income tax and benefit return to report the transaction (even if you do not have to pay tax)....
Reddit
reddit.com › r/tax › how does claiming money lost in stocks work exactly?
r/tax on Reddit: How does claiming money lost in stocks work exactly?
November 4, 2024 -
I tried to post this on ExplainLikeImFive but they don’t allow posts related to taxes.
I tried looking it up on my own but I don’t understand what short term losses, long term losses, short term gains, long term gains or capital losses are. I’m not familiar with any of it. My husband mentioned that money lost on stocks could be claimed on our taxes but I still don’t understand how that works?
Top answer 1 of 8
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You have a W2 from work. That's income. You invest in stocks. They go up. Yeah!! So you sell some, the profit is capital gain. Some go down. Boo - sell them. The loss is a capital loss. Some of them you owned for more than a year. Those are long-term. Some, you held less. Those are short-term. Add the long term ones together. That's your net long term gain or loss. Add the short term ones together. That's your short term gain or loss. A. If both of those are gains, you owe tax on all the net gains. Your software will calculate the tax. But net short term gains are taxed as ordinary income, just like your W2. Net long-term gains can get special lower rates. Your software will do that math. B1. If one was gain and the other is loss, you add them together. Net gain? Pay tax. The rate depends on whether the net total, whether short term or long. B2. Net loss? Then you get to use up to $3,000 on your taxes for this year. Just a deduction. Reduce your taxable income. Any excess carries to next year, to be entered into these calculations next year. C. If both are losses, again, you get to use $3,000 of them this year, and the excess, if any, goes to next year. You use the short term losses first, then long-term losses. Again, your software will do this.
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A gain or loss results when you sell an asset for more or less (respectively) than you paid for it. If you buy a stock for $100 and sell it for $120, you have a $20 gain. If on the other hand you sell it for $80, you have a $20 loss. Short vs long term gains/losses refers to the holding period of the asset. If you owned the asset for over one year, your gains and losses are considered long term. One year or less, and your gains/losses are short term. This is important because in most cases long term gains are taxed more favorably than short term gains. When you put these two variables together you can end up with one of four possible outcomes when you sell an asset: A short-term gain, a long-term gain, a short-term loss or a long-term loss. If you bought shares at different times and/or prices the outcome is determined for each share individually even if you sell them all at the same time, so it is possible for a single sale to result in both gains and losses, and for those gains and/or losses to be a mix of both short-term and long-term. Thankfully these days you don't need to keep track of all of this yourself; your brokerage should send you a tax form with all of the information you need. Once you have said tax form, you tally up everything from each of the four categories separately. If you have losses, those losses must first be applied against gains of the same holding period: Short-term losses credit against short-term gains, and long-term losses credit against long-term gains. Once you've done that, if you have a net loss in either the short-term or long-term category, you can apply that loss against gains in the other holding period (i.e. a net long-term loss can be used to further reduce short-term gains or vice versa). If both your short-term and long-term sales have a net loss, or if the losses from one completely eclipse the gains of the other, you are permitted to deduct up to $3,000 of these excess losses against your total income. If your losses exceed $3,000, the remaining losses are carried forward and can be deducted in future years until they are all used up.
SmartAsset
smartasset.com › taxes › how-to-deduct-stock-losses-on-your-taxes
How to Deduct Stock Losses on Your Taxes
November 23, 2022 - This post may contain links from ... capital losses both have tax implications. When you sell stocks for a profit, you owe taxes on those gains....
Bankrate
bankrate.com › investing
How To Deduct Stock Losses From Your Taxes | Bankrate
September 30, 2025 - There is no need to actually sell the shares to claim a capital loss. So how much does claiming a stock loss save you on your taxes? The answer to that question depends on your tax bracket and whether your loss is offsetting a taxable gain or ...
Kiplinger
kiplinger.com › home › investing
How Selling a Losing Stock Position Can Lower Your Tax Bill | Kiplinger
December 17, 2024 - The IRS allows you to use these losses to reduce taxable income, potentially saving you money when ... Here's the basic formula: Capital losses can offset capital gains dollar for dollar.
TurboTax
turbotax.intuit.com › tax-tips › investments-and-taxes › wash-sale-rule-what-is-it-how-does-it-work-and-more › c5ANd7xnJ
Wash Sale Rule: What Is It, How Does It Work, and More - TurboTax Tax Tips & Videos
Under the wash sale rule, your loss is disallowed for tax purposes if you sell stock or other securities at a loss and then buy substantially identical stock or securities within 30 days before or 30 days after the sale.
Investopedia
investopedia.com › articles › personal-finance › 100515 › heres-how-deduct-your-stock-losses-your-tax-bill.asp
Maximize Tax Savings by Deducting Stock Losses
October 13, 2025 - You're only liable for paying taxes on the overall net $1,000 capital gain if you have a net short-term capital loss of $2,000 and a net long-term capital gain of $3,000. Investors often asses their capital gains and losses at the end of the ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/fidelityinvestments › do i pay taxes every time i sell my stock?
r/fidelityinvestments on Reddit: Do I pay taxes every time I sell my stock?
May 17, 2024 -
Hello, I’ve been trying to maximize my profit by buying dips and selling highs. However I wasn’t sure if every time I sell my stock, the profit is considered taxable. For example, if I invest 5k and sell it for 6k, with a profit of 1k, and then reinvest the 6k, and then sold for 7k, with 1k profit. Would I be taxed for only the profit made total, so 2k, or the amounts I sold everything total, 14k?
Top answer 1 of 18
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You are liable to pay tax on every realized capital gain. That is, every time you sell for a profit. But it’s totaled at end of year. This will be offset with losses. You can use tax loss harvesting for that strategically. Your tax is smaller if the security was held over a year.
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You're only taxed on the profit, not the entire amount of the sale.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/schwab › do i pay taxes after selling a stock at a large loss, then buying a new stock that goes up a small amount compared to the amount i lost on the first stock
r/Schwab on Reddit: Do I pay taxes after selling a stock at a large loss, then buying a new stock that goes up a small amount compared to the amount I lost on the first stock
February 24, 2025 -
For example I buy stock A for $1,000 and after 3 months I sell at a $250 for a 75% loss.
I then take that $250 and buy Stock B. After 3 months it goes to $300 for a gain of 20%
I made money on stock B but I lost a lot more on Stock A. Do I have to pay taxes for Stock B even though my portfolio is much lower than where i started?
How does the situation change if I chose to sell or not sell stock B
Thank you
-Michael
Top answer 1 of 5
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Assuming this is a taxable account, you incur a tax liability for net realized gains (total gains minus total losses) for the entire tax year.
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Net gains minus net losses for the year. In this case, $50 (gain) - $750 (loss) = $700 net capital loss, assuming both of these transactions took place in the same year. You have a $750 loss from the sale of A. If you sell B for a $50 gain, you offset $50 of your losses with that gain and are left with a $700 loss. After offsetting all of the year’s gains with losses, with any remaining losses you can deduct up to $3,000 per year of ordinary income. More than that has to be carried forward to future years. [Edit to add — it is not clear from your post whether or not you actually sold stock B yet. If you did not, then all you have is a $750 capital loss so far.]
Charles Schwab
schwab.com › learn › story › 4-reasons-to-sell-your-losers
4 Reasons to Sell Your Losers | Charles Schwab
A hypothetical investor who realized $10,000 in short-term capital gains and $15,000 in capital losses could use tax-loss harvesting to reduce their tax bill—this year and in future years. Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research. Assumes a 32% combined federal/state marginal income tax bracket, with short-term capital gains taxed at ordinary income tax rates.