Originally Posted by BDW
Originally Posted by Mastershake340
But I don’t think I will do that now.
I have a lot of capital gains ( or I did, I think much of it disappeared this month whiney), and if my income as a single person is below 40K, I can sell off those investments and owe 0 capital gains tax. If I make $40,001 or more I’d owe 15%.
I also might be ahead if I convert my IRAs to Roth at a time I am keeping my income low.


In your scenario, you'd only owe taxes on $1, 15 cents, not the entire $40k
And if you die early, you'll be able to help Uncle Sam..............

I’m talking about the capital gains. If a single person earns under 40,000 and sells appreciated assets their capital gains tax rate on the sales is 0. Over $40,000 income it’s 15% though at some point maybe $250,000 it is even higher. That doesn’t mean their income tax is 0, it means their taxes on capital gains is 0.
Ordinary income tax rates and capital gains tax rates are two different things. From what I can tell I could have $1M in capital gains from selling stocks and if I had under $40,000 in income, be it from working, dividends, 401K distributions, social security etc, I’d owe no capital capital gains, at least to the IRS. States taxes on it might vary.
Under $40,000 income is the magic number for those under 65 getting cheap Obama care insurance too I believe.