Tax-Loss Harvesting Estimator
Selling a loser to bank a capital loss saves tax now - but it also lowers your cost basis, so most of that saving is deferred, not erased. This estimates the real, honest value: the up-front saving you can reinvest, minus the tax you'll eventually owe, plus the rate arbitrage on the $3,000 ordinary-income offset.
$
$
%
%
%
yrs
%
Results
Tax saved this year
$0
Loss carried forward
$0
Net benefit (today's $)
$0
Value kept per $ loss
0%
Where your loss goes - and what you actually keep
The economics, in today's dollars
Net benefit vs how long you defer
The longer until you sell, the more the deferred tax shrinks in present value - the dot marks your horizon.
30-day wash-sale rule
Rebuy a similar asset, not a substantially identical one, within 30 days - or the loss is disallowed.
Deferral, not free money
Your basis drops by the harvested loss, so a bigger gain is taxed when you eventually sell.
Where the real value is
Time value of investing the up-front saving, plus offsetting high-rate income now vs low-rate gains later.
Estimate only
Ignores AMT, net investment income tax and the long/short-term split within gains; assumes the replacement recovers. Not tax advice.