Tax Loss Harvesting Calculator
Free Tax Loss Harvesting Calculator. Identify harvestable crypto losses to offset capital gains and estimate tax savings.
Wash sale check (optional)
Calculate Tax-Loss Harvesting
Add your crypto positions to see which losses you can harvest to reduce your tax bill.
How to use Tax Loss Harvesting Calculator
The Tax-Loss Harvesting Calculator quantifies how much you can save on taxes by selling underperforming crypto positions at a loss to offset realized gains. Enter your total capital gains, unrealized losses across your portfolio, and your tax bracket — the tool calculates the net taxable gain, estimated tax saved, and the excess loss you can carry forward to future years.
In the US, you can deduct crypto losses against capital gains dollar-for-dollar, plus up to $3,000 against ordinary income annually. The calculator models both scenarios: offsetting short-term gains (taxed at up to 37%) and long-term gains (taxed at 15–20%). Unlike stocks, crypto is not subject to the wash-sale rule in most jurisdictions as of 2026, so you can repurchase the same token immediately after harvesting.
Input guide and assumptions
Enter your realized capital gains for the tax year (both short-term and long-term if you want separate calculations). Then list your unrealized losses — positions currently underwater that you could sell to generate deductible losses. Your marginal tax bracket determines the actual dollar savings.
Optional fields include state tax rate (for combined federal + state savings), carry-forward losses from prior years, and the $3,000 ordinary income deduction cap. The output shows total tax saved, effective tax rate reduction, and a year-over-year carry-forward schedule if losses exceed gains.
How to interpret results correctly
The hero figure is Estimated Tax Savings — the dollars you keep, not the size of your loss. Read it next to Total Harvestable Losses: the savings equal the deductible portion multiplied by your tax bracket. A coin only feeds that number if its Current Value sits below its Cost Basis and no wash sale flags it. The Position Breakdown shows each coin's unrealized gain or loss, so check which red lines actually became a Harvestable Loss row.
Total Unrealized Gains matters as much as losses here. Harvested losses first offset those gains dollar-for-dollar, and only up to $3,000 of any net loss spills over against ordinary income in one year. So the savings shown can come from cancelling a gain or from that capped deduction. Cross-check the gains side with the <a href="/profit-calculator/">profit calculator</a> so you know exactly what you are offsetting before you sell.
Practical scenarios and planning workflow
A bear-market portfolio is the headline use case: you are deep red on BTC, ETH, and SOL, and want to know how much of that paper loss converts to cash savings. Load up to five positions with buy price, current price, and quantity, set your Tax Bracket and Filing Status, and the Estimated Tax Savings hero tells you the realistic benefit of selling now versus holding.
The mixed-bag scenario is more common: one big winner sitting on a gain, a couple of losers underwater. Here harvesting is about offsetting that taxable gain rather than chasing the $3,000 deduction. Enter every lot, watch Total Harvestable Losses absorb Total Unrealized Gains, then plan rebuys with the <a href="/dca-calculator/">DCA calculator</a> so you re-enter exposure without tripping the wash sale window.
Risk and execution checklist
- Before you sell: 1) Enter the real cost basis per lot, including fees, not the round number you remember. 2) Pull a live current price for each coin. 3) Set the correct Tax Bracket and Filing Status, since the savings scale directly with the bracket. 4) Open the optional Sell date and Re-buy date fields on any position you plan to repurchase so the tool can flag a wash sale.
- After calculating: confirm which positions actually produced a Harvestable Loss row — a coin in profit contributes nothing. If a Wash sale triggered banner appears, that loss is disallowed and excluded from the total, so push the planned rebuy past 30 days. Note that net losses above gains are capped at $3,000 per year against ordinary income; the rest carries forward, which this single-year snapshot does not model.
Common mistakes to avoid
- The biggest mistake is harvesting a position you intend to rebuy immediately. Selling for the loss then buying back within 30 days triggers the wash sale check, the loss is disallowed and rolled into the new cost basis, and your Estimated Tax Savings on that lot drops to zero. The calculator flags this only if you fill in both the Sell date and Re-buy date, so use those fields when a rebuy is planned.
- The second error is overstating the deduction. Many users assume all losses reduce ordinary income, but losses first cancel gains and only up to $3,000 of the remainder is deductible per year. Entering a guessed cost basis is just as costly — if your buy price is wrong, the unrealized loss and every downstream figure, including tax savings, is wrong by the same margin.
Performance benchmarks and expectation ranges
Realistic US federal brackets run 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%, which are the presets here, so a $10,000 harvestable loss saves roughly $2,400 at the 24% bracket once it offsets gains. The annual ordinary-income deduction cap is fixed at $3,000 whether you file Single or Married, so net losses beyond your gains plus $3,000 produce no extra savings this year — they carry forward instead.
In a typical bear year, a diversified crypto book might show 20–50% of positions underwater enough to harvest. Wash sale windows are 30 days before and after the sale in jurisdictions that apply the rule. Remember US crypto is currently classified as property, not a security, so the strict wash sale rule may not bind — confirm with the <a href="/tax-calculator/">crypto tax calculator</a> and a professional for your region.
Execution templates you can reuse
Workflow: 1) List every lot you might sell, one per position, with accurate buy price, current price, and quantity. 2) Set Tax Bracket and Filing Status. 3) Read Total Harvestable Losses and how much of it offsets Total Unrealized Gains. 4) For any coin you want to keep exposure to, enter Sell date and Re-buy date to test the wash sale check. 5) Sell only the lots whose Harvestable Loss survives that check.
Sequence the harvest so the larger losses land in years with larger gains to offset. Capture the loss now, then re-establish the position after 30 days, or rotate into a similar-but-not-identical asset to stay invested. Size that re-entry with the <a href="/position-size-calculator/">position size calculator</a> so you rebuild exposure deliberately rather than dumping the full proceeds back in at once.
Data hygiene and model maintenance
Cost basis is the input that decays fastest. Update each position's buy price from your actual fills and fees, not memory, and refresh the current price right before you act — a stale quote can flip a Harvestable Loss into a small gain and erase the whole rationale. Keep one row per tax lot rather than blending averages, because partial-lot selling changes which losses you can actually realize.
Re-run the tool whenever brackets, filing status, or the $3,000 cap change, and at year-end before the December selling deadline. Log the harvested amount, the gains it offset, and the planned rebuy date for each lot so next year you can verify the wash sale window cleared. Treat the snapshot as a single-year view; carryforward losses need to be tracked separately across tax years.
Final validation before capital deployment
Sanity-check the math by hand: for each red position, Harvestable Loss should equal cost basis minus current value, where cost basis is buy price times quantity. Total Harvestable Losses is just those summed across positions that are not wash-sale flagged. If a coin shows a loss in the breakdown but no Harvestable Loss row, a wash sale disallowed it — confirm the date gap is 30 days or less.
Verify the savings figure: it equals the effective deduction times your bracket. The effective deduction is your gains offset plus the smaller of net losses or $3,000. So at a 24% bracket, $5,000 of harvestable loss against $2,000 of gains deducts $2,000 plus the $3,000 cap, saving about $1,200. Cross-check your overall liability with the <a href="/tax-calculator/">tax calculator</a> before treating the number as final.
Authoritative sources
Frequently asked questions
Does the wash-sale rule apply to crypto in the US?
No - as of 2026 the IRS still classifies crypto as property, not securities, so wash-sale rules (IRC §1091) don't apply. You can sell BTC at a loss and rebuy 1 minute later, locking in a tax deduction. Congress has proposed extending wash-sale to crypto since 2021 but no law has passed.
How much can I deduct from crypto losses per year?
You can offset unlimited capital gains with crypto losses, plus $3,000 of ordinary income per year ($1,500 if married filing separately). Excess losses carry forward indefinitely - a $50,000 loss with no gains saves ~$15k over 17 years on income offset alone.
What's the best date to harvest crypto losses?
Most US filers harvest in late November-December to capture YTD losses against gains. The 2025 tax year deadline is Dec 31, 2025 (settled trades). Harvest earlier if losses are deep - waiting risks a recovery that erases the loss.
Can I harvest losses in the UK or EU?
UK: yes, losses offset gains in same year and carry forward; the £3,000 CGT allowance for 2025/26 applies first. Germany: 1-year holding rule means losses only count if sold within 12 months. France: 30% flat tax (PFU) offsets gains within same year only.
How does Koinly or CoinTracker handle harvesting?
Both auto-flag unrealized losses and suggest lots to sell using HIFO (highest-in-first-out) lot selection. Koinly's 2025 harvesting view shows estimated tax savings per lot; CoinTracker integrates with TurboTax for direct 8949 export. Free tier covers 100-200 transactions.
Is rebuying immediately after a loss harvest legal?
In the US, yes for crypto until Congress acts - though 2024 IRS guidance hinted at scrutiny. In UK, the 30-day "bed and breakfasting" rule disallows the loss if you rebuy within 30 days. Always rebuy a different asset (BTC→WBTC isn't safe in UK) or wait 31 days.
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