Fort Worth, TX Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Before you start making plans for the cash you got when selling your Fort Worth home, the IRS wants its cut through capital gains tax. How much you actually owe depends on a bunch of stuff, like how long you owned the place, whether it was your primary home, what you spent on renovations, and your income level.

Capital gains tax calculators take all that information and give you an estimate in seconds, sometimes less. They’re free and accurate enough for planning purposes. Way better than sitting around wondering if you should’ve asked your realtor about this months ago.

What Is Capital Gains Tax?

Capital gains tax is what you pay on the profit from selling property. If you buy a house in Fort Worth for $250,000 and sell it for $350,000, that $100,000 difference is your capital gain. The federal government treats it like income and taxes it accordingly.

Since Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, you only deal with federal rates. The calculation seems simple, but the rate changes based on how long you have owned the place. Someone who owned their house for six months pays an entirely different rate than someone who owned theirs for five years, even if they made the same profit.

Your overall income for the year also plays a factor. If you make more money, you pay a higher rate. A single person earning $60,000 annually faces different tax rates than a married couple earning $150,000, even on identical home sale profits.

Short-Term Capital Gains vs. Long-Term Capital Gains

The difference between short-term and long-term capital gains boils down to one thing: time. Specifically, whether you owned your Fort Worth property for more or less than a year before selling it, that single year makes a massive difference in what you’ll pay.

Short-term capital gains apply when you owned the property for 12 months or less. Your profit gets lumped in with your regular income and taxed at ordinary income rates, which range from 10% to 37% federally.

If you’re already earning a decent salary, adding tens of thousands in home sale profit on top could bump you into a higher bracket. You might’ve paid 22% on your last dollar of wages, but now you’re paying 24% or even 32% on both your income and your property profit. It grows fast, especially if you made a significant gain on the sale.

Someone in the 24% bracket who made $50,000 flipping a house owes $12,000 right off the top. That’s a big chunk of change disappearing before you even see it.

Long-term capital gains work differently and way more favorably. If you own your property for more than a year, and you qualify for special tax rates: 0%, 15%, or 20%. These rates are entirely separate from regular income tax brackets. Most Fort Worth homeowners fall into the 15% category.

Take that same $50,000 profit from earlier. As a long-term gain, you’re only paying $7,500 instead of $12,000. That’s $4,500 you get to keep just because you waited a few extra months to sell.

The 0% rate applies to lower earners (single filers making up to $48,350 in 2025 or married couples filing jointly up to $96,700). The 20% rate only hits high earners. These are single filers with incomes over $533,400 or married couples with incomes over $600,050.

For everyone else, it’s 15% and beats the regular income rates by a mile.

How to Calculate Capital Gains Tax in Fort Worth, TX

Get your closing documents, and let’s break this down into three chunks.

Determine Your Cost Basis

Cost basis starts with what you paid for the house initially. Easy enough. However, you can also add additional costs, such as closing costs from the time of purchase, including title insurance and attorney fees.

Big renovations count, too. Anything that makes the property more valuable goes in. Regular maintenance doesn’t count, though. Fixing a broken toilet or repainting the bedroom are just repairs.

The goal here is to maximize your cost basis, as a higher basis results in less taxable profit later.

Calculate Your Capital Gain

Start with your selling price and begin subtracting the expenses. First, account for all selling costs, including realtor commissions, closing fees, staging charges, and any other costs you incurred, which explains how Pioneer Home Buyers works.

That $400,000 sale might actually be $373,000 after accounting for a $24,000 commission and $3,000 in other expenses. Now subtract your cost basis from that adjusted sale price. What’s left is your actual capital gain, which is the number the IRS cares about.

Apply the Correct Tax Rate for Your Tax Year

Tax rates change annually, so ensure you’re using the correct ones.

Your filing status matters as well. Whether you’re single, married filing jointly, or a head of household, you all have different income thresholds.

And remember, it’s not just your house profit that determines your rate. Your total income for the year counts. If you made $80,000 from work and $40,000 from the house, you’re looking at $120,000 combined when figuring out which bracket you fall into.

Best Capital Gains Tax Calculators

Free online calculators do the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. They’ll get you close enough to plan your next move. Here are four that actually work:

Important Note: Nothing replaces a qualified tax professional.

1. NerdWallet Capital Gains Tax Calculator

NerdWallet has a practical but straightforward calculator. You type in the purchase price, the sale price, how long you owned it, your filing status, and your income. Hit calculate, and you’re done.

The results display federal and state tax estimates side by side, although the state tax will always be zero for Texas. What we like about this one is its clean appearance. There are no confusing fields or tax jargon you need to decode.

They explain short-term versus long-term rates right on the page, too, so if you’re still wrapping your head around the difference, it’s all there. Suitable for a quick estimate when you just want a ballpark number.

2. Keeper Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Keeper also has easy-to-use calculators. The results are presented with charts and visuals, rather than just numbers, which helps if you’re more of a visual person. They also explain what each field means as you fill it out, so there’s less guessing involved. The interface feels modern and less cluttered than those of some older calculators.

3. Asset Preservation Inc. Capital Gain Tax Calculator

This calculator goes deep. Like, really deep. It’s designed for individuals considering 1031 exchanges, but you can also use it for regular sales.

You can start by calculating your net adjusted basis, which is your purchase price plus any improvements minus any depreciation, if applicable, for a rental property. Then it works by subtracting the basis and selling costs from your capital gain. The final tax calculation includes everything: recaptured depreciation at 25%, federal capital gains at 15% or 20%, the 3.8% Medicare surtax for high earners, plus state taxes.

It even shows what you’d have left to reinvest if you did a 1031 exchange versus just paying the taxes. It’s way more detailed than most people need, but if you want to see every piece broken down, this is it.

4. Public Capital Gains Tax Calculator

The public’s version sits somewhere between basic and intense. You enter purchase value, sale value, ownership period, state, tax year, filing status, and income. The results show your tax rate right next to the dollar amount, so you can see exactly which bracket hit you.

The design is clean and modern without being overly minimalist. It’s got more features than NerdWallet, but won’t overwhelm you like Asset Preservation’s. If you want something that provides valuable information without making you feel like you’re preparing an actual tax return, this one works.

Primary Residence Exclusion

The IRS offers a primary residence exclusion that can wipe out your capital gains tax completely if you qualify. This is, hands down, the most significant tax break available for home sellers.

Single Filer Exclusion

If you’re single, you can exclude up to $250,000 in capital gains from your taxable income. That means if you bought your Fort Worth house for $200,000 and sold it for $430,000, your $230,000 profit is entirely tax-free. Zero dollars owed.

The catch is that you have to meet the ownership and use tests. You must have owned the home for at least two years and lived in it as your primary residence for at least two of the five years preceding the sale. Those two years don’t have to be consecutive. You could’ve lived there for a year, rented it out, then moved back in for another year.

As long as you hit the two-year mark within that five-year window, you’re good. This exclusion is per person, not per property, so you can only use it once every two years. If you try to claim it twice in a row, the IRS will shut you down.

Married Filing Jointly Exclusion

Married couples filing jointly get double the exclusion, up to $500,000 in tax-free gains. Same ownership and use rules apply. You both need to have lived in the house as your primary residence for at least two of the five years preceding the sale, although only one spouse is required to meet the ownership requirement.

So, if you bought the house before getting married, that’s fine as long as you both live there together for at least two years. A couple who bought for $300,000 and sold for $780,000 walks away with $480,000 in profit and pays nothing to the IRS. That’s a massive amount of money staying in your pocket instead of going to taxes.

If your gain exceeds $500,000, only the amount over that threshold gets taxed. But if you made $550,000, you’ll pay capital gains tax on $50,000, not the full amount. Still way better than getting taxed on the whole thing.

Deductions That Lower Your Capital Gains in Fort Worth, TX

The IRS lets you subtract certain costs from your taxable income, which means less money goes to taxes and more stays with you. These deductions aren’t loopholes or sketchy maneuvers. They’re completely legitimate ways to reduce what you owe. You just need to know what counts and keep decent records.

Home Improvements and Renovations

Any significant improvement you made to the house over the years can bump up your cost basis, and a higher cost basis means a lower taxable gain. If you’ve added a new roof, kitchen remodel, installed a bathroom, finished a basement, replaced your HVAC system, or installed new windows, all of these improvements count.

Even landscaping work, such as adding a deck or installing a fence, falls under this category. The keyword is “improvement,” though. Regular repairs don’t cut it. Fixing a leaky pipe or patching drywall is just maintenance. Replacing the entire plumbing system or gutting a bathroom and rebuilding it from scratch is an improvement.

Keep your receipts, invoices, and any proof of payment, as the IRS may request documentation if they come asking. Some people lose thousands in deductions just because they can’t prove they spent the money.

Selling Costs and Real Estate Fees

Everything you spent getting the house sold can come off your gain. Realtor commissions are the big ones. This is typically 5% to 6% of the sale price. But don’t stop there.

Closing costs you paid as the seller count, too. Title insurance, attorney fees, transfer taxes, and recording fees all add up. If you paid for a home warranty to sweeten the deal for the buyer, hired a staging company, or had to make repairs after the inspection because the buyer demanded it, those costs are also deducted.

Even advertising costs count if you sell your house without a realtor. Every documented selling expense reduces your taxable amount, and it can add up quickly, especially when commissions on higher-priced properties can exceed $20,000, making it worthwhile to sell your home for cash in Dallas.

How Depreciation Affects Rental Property Capital Gains

If you sold a rental property in Fort Worth and are suddenly facing a bigger tax bill than expected, it’s probably because of depreciation recapture. When you own a rental property, the IRS allows you to deduct depreciation annually for the gradual wear and tear on the building. Great at tax time, not so great when you sell.

The IRS wants that money back through depreciation recapture, taxed at 25% instead of the usual 15% long-term capital gains rate. If you purchase a rental property for $250,000, you can claim $50,000 in depreciation over ten years. If you sell for $400,000, the $50,000 gets taxed at 25%, while the remaining $150,000 gain is taxed at the regular rate. That’s $12,500 on depreciation alone before calculating anything else.

The real punch is that you owe recapture even if you never claimed the deduction. If you forgot to take depreciation or were unaware of it, it doesn’t matter.

The IRS assumes you took it and taxes you anyway based on what you should have claimed. This often catches landlords off guard, especially those who didn’t use an accountant or kept sloppy records. A 1031 exchange can help delay this, but if you’re selling outright, brace yourself for the 25% hit. It’s not optional, and it’s not negotiable.

1031 Exchange: Deferring Capital Gains Tax in Fort Worth

A 1031 exchange lets you sell your Fort Worth investment property and roll the proceeds into a new property without paying capital gains tax right now. The tax bill doesn’t disappear. It just gets pushed down the road until you eventually sell without doing another exchange.

Real estate investors often use this strategy to build wealth more quickly by reinvesting the entire amount instead of paying taxes upfront, an advantage that also appeals to Fort Worth cash buyers and surrounding Texas cities focused on speed and efficiency.

The rules are strict, though. You have 45 days from closing on your old property to identify potential replacement properties and a total of 180 days to close on the new one. If you miss either deadline, the whole thing falls apart. You’ll owe taxes on the original sale.

The replacement property must be equal to or greater in value than what you sold, and you must reinvest all the proceeds. Only investment properties and business properties qualify. Your primary residence doesn’t count, and vacation homes can be complicated unless you can prove they’re legitimate rentals.

You’ll need a qualified intermediary to handle the exchange. You can’t touch the money yourself between sales, or the IRS considers it taxable income. Don’t try to DIY. Get a tax pro and an intermediary who knows what they’re doing.

Common Mistakes When Calculating Capital Tax

If you make the wrong capital gains calculations, it’ll cost you money. Here are the most common mistakes that occur.

Forgetting to Include Improvements in Cost Basis

If you spent $30,000 on a new roof five years ago but didn’t add it to your basis, you just paid taxes on an extra $30,000 in gains you didn’t actually make. Keep records of every significant improvement from day one, not just the year you’re selling. 

Be sure to save receipts, invoices, and contractor estimates for your records. This one mistake alone can cost Fort Worth sellers thousands because they may have forgotten what they spent or lost the paperwork over the years.

Confusing Ownership and Use Tests

The primary residence exclusion requires you to have owned the home for two years and lived in it for two years within the past five years. You don’t qualify if you owned it for two years but only live there for one.

It’s the same issue when you live there for two years, but only own it for one. Both tests must be met separately, and people often confuse them. Then, they get blindsided when the IRS denies their exclusion.

Miscalculating the Sale Date

The IRS uses the closing date, not the date you accepted an offer or signed a contract. That means even if you sold your property on December 28th and reported it the following year because you didn’t receive payment until January, it still counts for the year you closed.

That can complicate your tax planning if you weren’t expecting the extra income to hit that tax year.

Ignoring Depreciation Recapture

Landlords either forget they took depreciation deductions or didn’t realize the IRS assumes they took them even if they didn’t. The 25% recapture rate comes as a surprise, given that people were expecting 15%.

You can’t escape it, and inadequate record-keeping just makes it worse when you’re trying to calculate what you actually claimed versus what the IRS thinks you should have claimed.

Using the Primary Residence Exclusion Too Soon

The once-every-two-years rule is firm. People typically sell their primary home within 18 months, and the IRS will likely deny it. They will leave you stuck with a full tax bill. If you buy another one and sell that, too, within a year, don’t get shocked when they can’t exclude the second gain.

The rule exists to prevent precisely this kind of rapid-fire flipping of primary residences.

Key Takeaways: Fort Worth, TX Capital Gains Tax Calculator

Capital gains tax in Fort Worth is federal only. There’s no state income tax. Short-term gains are taxed as regular income at a rate of up to 37%, while long-term gains are taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%. Most sellers hit that 15% rate. The primary residence exclusion wipes out up to $250,000 for single filers or $500,000 for married couples if you owned and lived in the house for two of the past five years. You can use one of the calculators we’ve shared here and estimate what you’ll owe. Selling your Fort Worth house and want to skip the headaches? Pioneer Home Buyers makes cash offers and handles everything so that you can move on. Call (817) 382-1155 for a no-obligation offer today.