What is the wash sale rule? On its surface, the wash sale rule isn't very complicated. It simply states that you can't sell shares of stock or other securities for a loss and then buy substantially identical shares within 30 days before or after the sale (i.e., for a 61-day period, since you count the day of the sale).
Always sell a stock it if falls 7%-8% below what you paid for it. This basic principle helps you always cap your potential downside. If you're following rules for how to buy stocks and a stock you own drops 7% to 8% from what you paid for it, something is wrong.
Wash sales are not illegal. They only require reporting in a way that negates the loss. The IRS is perfectly happy for you to do a wash sale as long as you report it correctly on your return.
The wash-sale rule prohibits selling an investment for a loss and replacing it with the same or a "substantially identical" investment 30 days before or after the sale. If you do have a wash sale, the IRS will not allow you to write off the investment loss which could make your taxes for the year higher than you hoped.
The easy part of tax-loss selling is getting rid of a loser by Dec. 31. So long as you hold the stock in a taxable account, you will be able to use the loss to offset taxable capital gains for 2024.
One way to defeat the wash sale rule is with a “double up” strategy. You buy the same number of shares in the stock you want to sell for a loss. Then you wait 31 days to sell the original batch of shares.
Although marginal tax brackets and capital gains tax rates change over time, the maximum tax rate on ordinary income is usually higher than the maximum tax rate on capital gains. Therefore, it usually makes sense from a tax standpoint to try to hold onto taxable assets for at least one year, if possible.
There are no restrictions on placing multiple buy orders to buy the same stock more than once in a day, and you can place multiple sell orders to sell the same stock in a single day. The FINRA restrictions only apply to buying and selling the same stock within the designated five-trading-day period.
So just to quickly summarise:
If you're looking for the best time to either buy or sell a stock during the trading day it is; During the last 10-15 minutes before market close. Or about an hour after the market opens.
The Golden Rule is all positions must have a Stop Loss in place. Have the discipline to place a protective Stop the moment you've entered a position. Do not wait; the Stop should have been part of your trade plan. Only move Stop-Loss positions forward, never back.
The 3 5 7 rule is a risk management strategy in trading that emphasizes limiting risk on each individual trade to 3% of the trading capital, keeping overall exposure to 5% across all trades, and ensuring that winning trades yield at least 7% more profit than losing trades.
The law states that if an investor buys a security within 30 days before or after selling it, any losses made from that sale cannot be counted against reported income. This effectively removes the incentive to do a short-term wash sale.
Your maximum net capital loss in any tax year is $3,000. The IRS limits your net loss to $3,000 (for individuals and married filing jointly) or $1,500 (for married filing separately). You can reduce any amount of taxable capital gains as long as you have gross losses to offset them.
Technically, there is no waiting period. You can sell a stock seconds after buying it. However, frequent day trading might classify you as a 'Pattern Day Trader' by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which carries certain requirements.
Current tax law does not allow you to take a capital gains tax break based on your age. In the past, the IRS granted people over the age of 55 a tax exemption for home sales, though this exclusion was eliminated in 1997 in favor of the expanded exemption for all homeowners.
A few options to legally avoid paying capital gains tax on investment property include buying your property with a retirement account, converting the property from an investment property to a primary residence, utilizing tax harvesting, and using Section 1031 of the IRS code for deferring taxes.
However, if you had significant capital losses during a tax year, the most you could deduct from your ordinary income is just $3,000. Any additional losses would roll over to subsequent tax years. The issue is that $3,000 loss limit was established back in 1978 and hasn't been updated since.
Buying additional stock shares with the proceeds from a stock sale will not eliminate or reduce capital gains taxes. However, if you reinvest the gain into a QOF (Qualified Opportunity Fund), you can defer the payment of capital gains taxes while you are invested in an eligible fund.
Capital gains tax rates
Net capital gains are taxed at different rates depending on overall taxable income, although some or all net capital gain may be taxed at 0%. For taxable years beginning in 2024, the tax rate on most net capital gain is no higher than 15% for most individuals.
After selling a security at a loss, you must wait 31 days to repurchase the same or a substantially identical security to avoid triggering the wash sale rule. The rule applies to both 30 days before and after the sale, meaning a total of 61 days must be considered when planning trades to avoid a wash sale.
Your income or loss is the difference between the amount you paid for the stock (the purchase price) and the amount you receive when you sell it. You generally treat this amount as capital gain or loss, but you may also have ordinary income to report. You must account for and report this sale on your tax return.
Starting in 2025, single filers can qualify for the 0% long-term capital gains rate with taxable income of $48,350 or less, and married couples filing jointly are eligible with $96,700 or less. However, taxable income is significantly lower than your gross earnings.