FREE TOOL · TAX YEAR 2026
Bitcoin Tax Estimator
Updated
Estimate US federal tax on a bitcoin sale using your proceeds, cost basis, holding period, filing status, ordinary income and capital gains or losses from the disposals entered. The calculator applies the published 2026 federal brackets, long-term capital-gains rates and Net Investment Income Tax threshold. It is an educational estimate—not tax advice—and does not calculate state tax, transaction-level accounting or every deduction and exception that may affect a return.
1 · Your situation
FILING STATUS
OTHER INCOME (WAGES ETC.)
Gross income before deductions. We subtract the 2026 standard deduction for you ({{ deductionLabel }}).
2 · What you sold
{{ rowCount }}One row per disposal — selling, trading, or spending bitcoin all count. Use the acquisition date of the specific coins you disposed of.
BTC AMOUNTBUY DATEBUY $/BTCSELL DATESELL $/BTC
ESTIMATED 2026 FEDERAL TAX ON THESE GAINS
{{ totalTax }}
{{ effectiveLine }}
SHORT-TERM ({{ stRateLabel }})
{{ stGain }}
tax {{ stTax }}
LONG-TERM ({{ ltRateLabel }})
{{ ltGain }}
tax {{ ltTax }}
Net investment income tax (3.8%){{ niit }}
Capital loss deducted this year{{ lossDeduction }}
Estimated loss carryforward{{ carryforward }}
YOUR NUMBERS NEVER LEAVE THIS PAGE
Every figure you type stays in your browser's memory and is discarded the moment you close the tab. Nothing is sent to our servers, saved to a database, written to a cookie or to local storage, logged, or shared with any third party — there is no form submission and no analytics event carrying your inputs. We never ask for your name, email, wallet address, or exchange account, and this tool works with JavaScript-only computation, so you can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it will still calculate. Refreshing the page clears everything.
EMBED THIS CALCULATOR ON YOUR SITE
Free to embed with attribution. The iframe links back to this page.
READ THIS BEFORE YOU USE THE NUMBER
This is an estimate of federal tax only, and it is not tax advice. It ignores state tax, transaction fees (which adjust your basis), wash-sale and straddle rules, mining or staking income, gifts and inheritances, AMT, and prior-year loss carryforwards. It assumes the basic standard deduction, nonnegative ordinary income, valid purchases followed by sales in 2026, and bitcoin held in a taxable account. It does not include age-related deductions, credits or other investment income. Loss carryforwards are simplified estimates; use the IRS Schedule D worksheet for your return. Retirement accounts work differently — see our bitcoin IRA guide. Confirm anything you act on with a qualified tax professional.
How the calculation works
Each disposal is sorted by holding period. Coins held more than one year are long-term; one year or less is short-term. That single distinction is usually worth more than any other tax decision a bitcoin holder makes — the gap between ordinary rates and long-term rates runs to 17 percentage points.
Gains and losses are then netted the way the IRS requires: short-term against short-term, long-term against long-term, and any remaining loss of one type against the gain of the other. A remaining net loss allows a deduction of up to $3,000 for the filing statuses offered here. If income is too low to use all of that loss, the unused portion also carries forward.
Short-term gains are added to your ordinary income and taxed at your marginal bracket. Long-term gains are then stacked on top of that total — which is why a large short-term gain can push your long-term gain into a higher capital-gains bracket. Finally, the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax applies to the lesser of your investment income or the amount your income exceeds $200,000 ($250,000 married filing jointly).
2026 rates used by this tool
Head of household: 0% to $66,200 · 15% to $579,600 · 20% above. Thresholds are taxable income, after the standard deduction ($16,100 single / $32,200 joint / $24,150 HoH). Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
Frequently asked questions
How is bitcoin taxed in the US?
The IRS treats bitcoin as property. Selling, trading it for another asset, or spending it are all disposals that realize a gain or loss. Buying and holding is not a taxable event, and neither is moving coins between your own wallets — see our full bitcoin tax guide for the four events that trigger tax and the four that don't.
Can I deduct bitcoin losses?
Yes. Losses offset gains of the same type first, then the other type. A remaining net loss permits a deduction of up to $3,000 for the filing statuses shown. The estimated carryforward also preserves losses not absorbed when income is below the standard deduction. Confirm the amount using the IRS capital loss carryover worksheet.
Which cost-basis method does this use?
Specific identification — you tell it which lot each disposal came from by entering that lot's purchase date and price. If you use FIFO or HIFO across a large number of lots, run each matched pair as its own row, or use dedicated crypto tax software.
Does spending bitcoin count as a sale?
Yes. Buying a coffee with bitcoin is a disposal at the coffee's fair market value, and the gain is taxable. Enter the purchase price as your "sell $/BTC" for those rows.