Earlier this year I decided to unload some long term gains in order to take advantage of 0% Long Term Capital Gains Tax for earners in 15% tax bracket and below. I recently purchased options that may land me above the 15% tax bracket but I am not positive how this works so here is some background.
I have about $30,000 in long term capital gains my wife and I have about $30,000 in income with standard deduction how much in short term gains can I have before I wind up in the next tax bracket? And if so will I be forced to pay tax on all capital gains? I have about $20,000 in short term gains that I would like to lock in but I am afraid that if I do this may screw me over during tax season.

I have about $30,000 in long term capital gains my wife and I have about $30,000 in income with standard deduction how much in short term gains can I have before I wind up in the next tax bracket?======> as you can see, your tax bracket is a line of a tax schedule that shows the percentage rate at which different amounts of your taxable income is taxed. It is hard to say as it depends on yur specicifc personal tax situations,i.e.,amount of deductible adjustment to income if you itemize deductions or claim nonrefundable credits or etc.basically, you need bto find out your annual taxable income, then, you need to look up the federal tax rate schedule. What I am talking about here is NOT your gross income but yout taxasble income reported on line 43 form 1040.You can follow instructions on SchD/f8949 and qualified div and capital gain worksheet for more accuarate info in detail so that you can find the taxable income bracket before you wind up in the next tax bracket.


And if so will I be forced to pay tax on all capital gains?==>>as I said it depends on your specific situation,i..e, tax bracket based on your taxable income shown on qualified div and capital gain worksheet. Taxable income, that amount on which you figure how much you owe irs, is reached by starting with your gross, or total, income and above-the-line deductions, your deductions either standard or itemized and your personal exemptions or etc.
I have about $20,000 in short term gains that I would like to lock in but I am afraid that if I do this may screw me over during tax season.=======> I guess so; you might be able to defer some of these gains to the next year in a few special circumstances: for example if you sold a call or put in year one and bought it back or it expired in year two. Also, if you have less than $3000 in capital gains and greater capital losses than gains you can avoid paying capital gains tax on your winners.An important takeaway here is that if you’re ever considering selling an investment that has increased in value, it might be a good idea to think about holding the asset long enough for the capital gain to be considered long-term.Note that a capital gain occurs only when the asset is sold. This is important because it means that fluctuations in the value of the asset are not considered taxable events.