Estimates only — this is not tax advice. Consult a CPA or enrolled agent before acting on these figures. The calculator does not model the alternative minimum tax, wash sales, like-kind exchanges, QSBS, installment sales, or state additions and subtractions. See what is out of scope.
Show your work — 0 steps, each with its rule and citation
How New York taxes a capital gain
Statutory authority: N.Y. Tax Law § 601(a)(1)(vii), 601(b)(1)(vii), 601(c)(1)(vii)
New York taxes gains as ordinary income
There is no preferential state rate for long-term gains in New York. The same nine brackets that tax your salary tax your capital gains, running from 3.9% at the bottom to 10.9% on income above $25,000,000.
Because the ladder is long and the top rates start high, where a gain lands matters a great deal. Most substantial sales by New York residents fall in the 6.85% band, which begins at $323,200 of taxable income for joint filers and $215,400 for single filers — thresholds an ordinary professional income plus a decent gain will clear easily.
New York City and Yonkers charge their own tax on top
This is the most commonly omitted part of a New York answer, and it is not small. New York City levies a separate resident income tax on top of the state tax, reaching roughly 3.876% at the top for residents. Yonkers levies a surcharge calculated as a percentage of state tax liability. Neither is optional, and neither appears in a state-rate table.
This calculator does not compute either one, and it says so in a warning on every New York result rather than letting the omission pass silently. If you live in one of the five boroughs, treat the figure here as the state layer only, and expect your real combined bill to be materially higher. A calculator that quietly reports the state figure as your New York total is understating it by several percentage points.
The 2026 tables are set in statute, not indexed
Section 601 does not adjust automatically for inflation the way federal brackets do. Instead it sets explicit dollar tables for defined spans of years, and the legislature replaces them periodically. The tables this calculator uses come from paragraph (vii) of each subsection, which reads "for taxable years beginning after two thousand twenty-five and before two thousand twenty-seven" — that is, tax year 2026 exactly.
That precision matters more than it sounds. The same statute also contains a paragraph (ix) covering years after 2032, with different rates: 3.8% at the bottom and an 8.82% top. Reading the wrong paragraph produces a plausible-looking table that is simply for the wrong decade, and it is an easy mistake to make.
Which ladder applies to you
Section 601(c) covers unmarried individuals and married taxpayers filing separately together on one table. Heads of household get their own under 601(b), and joint filers theirs under 601(a). The rates are identical across all three for 2026; only the thresholds differ, and they differ a lot — the 6.85% band starts at $215,400 single, $269,300 head of household and $323,200 joint.
Your federal position is unchanged by any of this. The 0/15/20% long-term rates, the net investment income tax, the Section 121 exclusion and Section 1250 recapture all apply as normal, with New York tax stacked on top rather than replacing them.
A worked New York example
Every figure below is computed by the same engine that powers the calculator above, at the moment this page was built — not typed in by hand. When the tax-year data is updated, this example updates with it.
A $300,000 gain for a couple earning $232,200
A married couple filing jointly in New York State, outside the city, with $232,200 of gross income sells an investment for a $300,000 long-term gain.
- Taxable income after deduction
- $500,000
- Taxable gain
- $300,000
- Tax owed without the sale
- $33,424
- Tax the sale added
- $55,723.60
- of which net investment income tax
- $10,723.60
- Total federal tax
- $89,147.60
- New York state tax
- $19,379.60
- Effective rate on the gain
- 18.57%
The state figure below is the state layer only. A New York City resident with these same numbers would owe roughly another 3.9% of the gain to the city — the calculator flags this rather than quietly leaving it out.
Caveats on this example (3)
- Net investment income was derived from capital gains and qualified dividends only. Interest, non-qualified dividends, rents, royalties and passive business income inside ordinaryIncome are also net investment income under IRC 1411(c) and are not counted here.
- New York: local income taxes are not modelled and apply on top of the state figure. New York City and Yonkers levy SEPARATE resident income taxes on top of the state tax, which also reach capital gains. Not modelled; the NYC resident rate was not verified. A New York City answer that omits it understates the tax by several percentage points.
- New York: the state taxable income base is approximated by federal ordinary taxable income. State additions, subtractions and deductions are not modelled.
Show the working — 13 steps, each with its citation
- Net short-term capital gain or loss for the year$0
Assets held one year or less. Taxed at ordinary rates if a net gain.
- Net long-term capital gain or loss for the year$300,000
Assets held more than one year. Eligible for the 0/15/20% rates.
- Standard deduction-$32,200
Adjusted gross income of $532,200 less $32,200.
- Taxable income$500,000
The figure the rate tables and the capital gain ceilings are both measured against.
- Ordinary income taxed at 10%$2,480
$24,800 of taxable income between $0 and $24,800.
- Ordinary income taxed at 12%$9,120
$76,000 of taxable income between $24,800 and $100,800.
- Ordinary income taxed at 22%$21,824
$99,200 of taxable income between $100,800 and $200,000.
- Ordinary income stacked below the long-term gain$200,000
Long-term gain is taxed by reference to where it sits ON TOP of $200,000 of other taxable income, not from the bottom of the rate table.
- Long-term gain taxed at 15%$45,000
Gain between the $98,900 zero-rate ceiling and the $613,700 15% ceiling.
- Net investment income tax threshold$250,000
Modified AGI of $532,200 against the $250,000 threshold for married filing jointly. This threshold is statutory and is not adjusted for inflation.
- Net investment income tax at 3.8%$10,723.60
3.8% of $282,200, the lesser of net investment income ($300,000) and the amount by which modified AGI exceeds the threshold ($282,200). Here the binding figure is the excess of modified AGI over the threshold.
- New York income tax on the gain$19,379.60
$300,000 stacked on $200,000 of other taxable income across a 9-bracket ladder topping out at 10.9%. Federal ordinary taxable income is used as the base; the state's own taxable income differs, so treat this as an approximation.
- Total tax$108,527.20
$108,527.20 on $532,200 of total income, an effective rate of 20.39%.
What this calculator does not cover for New York
The New York figure stacks your gain on your federal ordinary taxable income. New York computes its own taxable income with its own additions and subtractions, which are not modelled here — so treat the state number as a close approximation for a straightforward wage-and-sale situation, and as a rough one if your return carries significant state adjustments.
Full-year residency is assumed throughout. Part-year residents, non-residents, and gains sourced to property in another state all turn on rules this calculator does not model. The complete list of what is in and out of scope is on the methodology page.
Other states
- New JerseyOrdinary income to 10.75%. Fixed thresholds, and no loss carryforward.
- PennsylvaniaFlat 3.07%, no holding-period distinction, and unusual loss rules.
- CaliforniaTaxed as ordinary income, nine brackets, plus a 1% surcharge over $1m.
See the full 2026 capital gains guide for the federal rules that apply wherever you live — the rate ladder, the net investment income tax, the home-sale exclusion and depreciation recapture — plus every state we currently cover.