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 Washington taxes a capital gain
Statutory authority: RCW 82.87.040, 82.87.050, 82.87.060; Wash. ESSB 5813 (2025)
Washington has no income tax and still taxes capital gains
Washington is the country's most structurally unusual case. It levies no individual income tax, and lists of no-income-tax states duly include it — but since 2022 it has imposed a separate excise tax on the sale of long-term capital assets. Being on the no-income-tax list tells you nothing about whether your sale is taxable here.
The tax is an excise on the transaction rather than a tax on income, which is how it coexists with the state's constitutional position on income taxation. For planning purposes the distinction is academic; the money is due either way.
The rate is 7%, plus 2.90% above a million — a 9.9% margin
RCW 82.87.040 imposes 7% on Washington capital gains. Since 1 January 2025 it also imposes "an additional excise tax ... which equals 2.90 percent multiplied by the portion of an individual's Washington capital gains exceeding $1,000,000", added by ESSB 5813 in 2025.
Read that structure carefully, because it is widely misreported. The additional 2.90% sits ON TOP of the 7%, giving a 9.9% marginal rate above the threshold — not a replacement 9% rate, and not 2.9% alone. Equally, the base 7% applies to ALL your Washington capital gains, not merely to the first million. Taxing only the first million at 7% understates a $1,022,000 gain by $1,540. The $1,000,000 threshold is a fixed statutory figure and is not indexed.
Real estate is exempt, and so are short-term gains
Two exemptions do most of the work in practice. Real property is exempt outright under RCW 82.87.050 — selling a house, a rental or land produces no Washington excise tax at all, however large the gain. Assets held in qualifying retirement accounts are likewise exempt.
The tax also reaches long-term gains only. A short-term gain — an asset held a year or less — is outside the scope of the tax entirely. That is the opposite of the usual pattern, where short-term gains are punished, and it means the Washington question is not "how big is my gain" but "what kind of asset, held how long".
The standard deduction is shared, and the 2026 figure is not out yet
RCW 82.87.060 provides a standard deduction of $250,000 "per individual, or in the case of spouses or domestic partners, their combined standard deduction is limited to $250,000". Married couples share one deduction; they do not get one each. That catches people out, because almost every other deduction they encounter doubles.
The amount is indexed under RCW 82.87.150 and published by the Department of Revenue on its own schedule, separate from any rate table — so it appears in no state-rates roundup and is easy to miss. The 2025 figure was $278,000 and the 2026 figure had not been published when this page was last updated. This calculator uses the 2025 amount and warns you, on every Washington result, that it has done so. Your real bill will move when the indexed figure lands.
A worked Washington 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 concentrated position worth $1.3m, sold
A married Washington couple with $382,200 of gross income sells a long-held concentrated stock position for a $1,300,000 gain. This crosses the $1,000,000 threshold, so both excise tiers apply.
- Taxable income after deduction
- $1,650,000
- Taxable gain
- $1,300,000
- Tax owed without the sale
- $69,196
- Tax the sale added
- $296,215
- of which net investment income tax
- $49,400
- Total federal tax
- $365,411
- Washington state tax
- $72,178
- Effective rate on the gain
- 22.79%
The base 7% applies to the whole post-deduction gain, with the extra 2.90% only on the portion above $1,000,000. Had this been a rental property instead of shares, the Washington tax would have been zero.
Caveats on this example (2)
- 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.
- Washington's 2026 standard deduction has not been published by the Department of Revenue. The 2025 amount of $278,000 was used, so the Washington figure will change when the indexed amount is released. The 7% / 2.9% rates are verified from RCW 82.87.040.
Show the working — 17 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$1,300,000
Assets held more than one year. Eligible for the 0/15/20% rates.
- Standard deduction-$32,200
Adjusted gross income of $1,682,200 less $32,200.
- Taxable income$1,650,000
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%$24,332
$110,600 of taxable income between $100,800 and $211,400.
- Ordinary income taxed at 24%$33,264
$138,600 of taxable income between $211,400 and $350,000.
- Ordinary income stacked below the long-term gain$350,000
Long-term gain is taxed by reference to where it sits ON TOP of $350,000 of other taxable income, not from the bottom of the rate table.
- Long-term gain taxed at 15%$39,555
Gain between the $98,900 zero-rate ceiling and the $613,700 15% ceiling.
- Long-term gain taxed at 20%$207,260
Gain above the $613,700 maximum 15% rate amount.
- Net investment income tax threshold$250,000
Modified AGI of $1,682,200 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%$49,400
3.8% of $1,300,000, the lesser of net investment income ($1,300,000) and the amount by which modified AGI exceeds the threshold ($1,432,200). Here the binding figure is net investment income.
- Washington standard deduction-$278,000
$278,000 is a COMBINED amount for spouses and domestic partners, not one each (RCW 82.87.060).
- Washington capital gains excise tax at 7%$71,540
The base 7% applies to ALL Washington capital gains, at every level.
- Washington additional excise tax at 2.9%$638
An additional 2.9% on the portion above $1,000,000, for a 9.9% marginal rate. Added by ESSB 5813 (2025). The threshold is not indexed.
- Total tax$437,589
$437,589 on $1,682,200 of total income, an effective rate of 26.01%.
What this calculator does not cover for Washington
The Washington figure stacks your gain on your federal ordinary taxable income. Washington 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
- CaliforniaTaxed as ordinary income, nine brackets, plus a 1% surcharge over $1m.
- TexasNo individual income tax. Federal tax still applies in full.
- ColoradoFlat 4.40%. The old capital gain subtraction appears to be gone.
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.