Capital Gain Tax Calculator

An estimate for planning, not tax advice. This calculation covers India, tax year 2026-27 (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, filed in 2027), for a resident individual under the new tax regime, which is the default. It applies the Income-tax Act, 2025, in force since 1 April 2026, including the special rates of sections 196, 197 and 198, the ₹1,25,000 exemption on listed equity long-term gains, the adjustment of the ₹4,00,000 basic exemption limit and the 4% health and education cess. It leaves out surcharge, the old regime, grandfathering of shares bought before 1 February 2018, reinvestment reliefs on property and advance tax. Check with a Chartered Accountant before you file.

What is a capital gain tax calculator?

A capital gain tax calculator is a tool that works out the income-tax due on a capital gain in India, using the special rates the Income-tax Act, 2025 attaches to gains instead of the slab rates that apply to salary. India has one income tax, levied by the Union: there is no separate capital gains tax, no state tax on your gains, no capital gains brackets and no filing status. What exists is a set of rates that sit inside the income tax and are chosen by two facts about the asset you sold.

The first fact is what you sold. Listed equity shares and equity-oriented mutual funds sold on an Indian exchange with Securities Transaction Tax (STT) paid follow one path; gold, property, debt funds, unlisted shares and foreign stocks follow another. The second fact is how long you held it: more than 12 months makes a listed equity holding long-term under section 2(101)(b), while everything else needs more than 24 months under section 2(101)(a). The old 36-month threshold no longer exists.

Those two facts produce four branches, and the calculator picks one of them for you:

On top of whichever figure comes out, the tool adds the 4% health and education cess and rounds the result to the nearest multiple of ₹10, as section 516 requires. That is why the real cost of a listed long-term gain is 13%, not 12.5%, and the real cost of a short-term one is 20.8%, not 20%.

Why is the capital gain tax calculator important for investors in India?

The capital gain tax calculator is important because the same rupee of profit can cost anything from nothing to a third of itself, and the branch you land in is decided by the sell order you are about to place. A gain of ₹1,99,000 on listed shares held 26 months costs ₹9,620, an effective 4.83%. A gain of ₹1,50,000 on gold held 10 months, with ₹11,00,000 of other income, costs ₹52,000, an effective 34.67%. Nothing about the two investors differs except the asset and the calendar.

The second reason is the ₹4,00,000 basic exemption limit, which most online calculators quietly drop. Sections 196, 197 and 198 all carry the same proviso: a resident individual whose income apart from the gain falls short of the exemption limit may set the unused part against the gain before the special rate applies. On a ₹2,98,000 short-term gain with ₹1,50,000 of other income, applying that proviso means ₹9,980 of tax instead of ₹61,980. The difference is ₹52,000, and it is not a rounding matter.

The moment to run the figure is therefore the decision itself, not the return. Before you sell a fund unit in month 12, the tool shows what the 20% rate of section 196 costs against the 12.5% rate of section 198 that starts once the holding passes 12 months. Before you book a second listed gain in March, it shows how much of the ₹1,25,000 exemption is already spent. And before you sell anything through an online broker in the last week of the tax year, it shows whether the gain pushes your total income past ₹12,00,000, where the section 156 rebate stops.

How do you use the capital gain tax calculator?

To use the capital gain tax calculator, choose the Asset type, enter the Holding period in months, add the Purchase value, the Sale value and the Transfer expenses, then state your Other annual income; the tool returns the tax payable, the gain type with the section applied, the effective rate and the net gain after tax.

The steps to use the capital gain tax calculator are listed below:

1. Choose the asset type. “Listed shares / equity MF” covers shares and equity mutual funds sold on an Indian exchange with STT paid. “Other assets” covers gold, property, debt funds, unlisted shares and foreign stocks. This choice sets both the rate and the long-term threshold, so it decides everything downstream.
2. Enter the holding period in months. Count from purchase to sale. Above 12 months a listed equity holding is long-term; other assets need more than 24 months. The field takes a number of months from 0 to 600.
3. Enter the purchase value. This is the cost of acquisition of what you sold, including the brokerage you paid when you bought it. India says cost of acquisition, not cost basis, and the tool uses the figure you type rather than reconstructing lots.
4. Enter the sale value. This is the gross amount received on the sale, before charges.
5. Enter the transfer expenses. Brokerage, GST on brokerage, exchange charges and stamp duty belong here. STT does not: it is not deductible against capital gains, and adding it understates your tax.
6. Enter your other annual income. Use your income for the tax year after the ₹75,000 standard deduction on salary. It is what lets the tool apply the ₹4,00,000 basic exemption proviso, price a short-term gain on other assets at your real slab, and warn you about surcharge.
7. Open Advanced and add any carried-forward losses. These are capital losses reported in an earlier year’s return, usable for up to 8 tax years. The tool subtracts them from this year’s gain before the ₹1,25,000 exemption, and it does not check their age or their type.

Every amount is in rupees and the calculation covers a single disposal, not a full year of trading. Each press of Calculate refreshes the tax, the gain type, the effective rate and the net gain together, so you can price the same holding as a listed long-term gain and as a short-term one before you commit to either.

What formula does the capital gain tax calculator use?

The capital gain tax calculator uses two formulas: one that turns your prices into a capital gain, and one that turns that gain into tax at the rate of the branch you are in, with cess added and the result rounded to ₹10.

In these formulas the rate is 20% under section 196, 12.5% under sections 197 and 198, the spare basic exemption is whatever part of ₹4,00,000 your other income leaves unused, and the LTCG exemption is the ₹1,25,000 that belongs to section 198 alone and never to section 197. The factor 1.04 is the 4% cess. Short-term gains on other assets take a different route: there the tool has no fixed rate to apply, so it computes your slab tax with the gain and without it, section 156 rebate and marginal relief included, and charges the difference.

With the starting values, a listed long-term gain of ₹1,99,000 leaves a taxable base of ₹74,000, and ₹74,000 × 12.5% × 1.04 = ₹9,620.

The formulas price one disposal under the new tax regime: they do not model surcharge, the old regime, indexation, grandfathering or any reinvestment relief.

What is an example of a capital gain tax calculation?

An example of a capital gain tax calculation is the sale of listed shares for ₹6,00,000 that were bought for ₹4,00,000 and held for 26 months, with ₹1,000 of transfer expenses and ₹12,00,000 of other annual income, which produces ₹9,620 of tax, worked out as follows:

1. Compute the gain. ₹6,00,000 − ₹4,00,000 − ₹1,000 = ₹1,99,000.
2. Classify the holding. 26 months is more than the 12-month threshold for listed equity, so this is a long-term capital gain under section 198, at 12.5%.
3. Check the basic exemption. Other income of ₹12,00,000 already exceeds ₹4,00,000, so nothing is spare and the “Basic exemption used” row shows ₹0.
4. Apply the ₹1,25,000 exemption. ₹1,99,000 − ₹1,25,000 = ₹74,000 of taxable base, and the “LTCG exemption used” row shows the full ₹1,25,000.
5. Add cess and round. ₹74,000 × 12.5% = ₹9,250, plus 4% cess of ₹370, gives ₹9,620 after rounding to the nearest ₹10.
6. Read what is left. ₹1,99,000 − ₹9,620 = ₹1,89,380 of net gain, and ₹9,620 ÷ ₹1,99,000 is an effective rate of 4.83%.

Notice that the effective rate is 4.83% and not 12.5%. The first ₹1,25,000 of a listed long-term gain pays nothing at all, so the headline rate only describes the part above it.

The boundary is worth seeing on its own. A listed holding bought for ₹3,00,000 and sold for ₹4,25,000 with no expenses produces a gain of exactly ₹1,25,000, a taxable base of ₹0 and tax of ₹0, with the effective rate reading 0%. Sell the same holding for ₹4,25,100 instead and the base becomes ₹100: the tax is ₹12.50 plus ₹0.50 of cess, which is ₹13 at the rupee and ₹10 once section 516 rounding to the nearest multiple of ₹10 is applied. A tool that showed ₹13 there would not be following the Act.

Why does the capital gain tax calculator ask for your other annual income?

The capital gain tax calculator asks for your other annual income because a resident individual whose other income is below ₹4,00,000 can set the unused part of the basic exemption limit against the gain itself, and because the same figure decides whether a short-term gain on other assets lands in a higher slab or costs you the section 156 rebate.

Take a short-term listed gain in a low-income year. Shares bought for ₹5,00,000 and sold for ₹8,00,000 after 5 months, with ₹2,000 of expenses and ₹1,50,000 of other income, give a gain of ₹2,98,000 taxed under section 196 at 20%. The spare basic exemption is ₹4,00,000 − ₹1,50,000 = ₹2,50,000, so the taxable base is ₹48,000 and the tax is ₹9,600 plus ₹384 of cess, which is ₹9,980. The effective rate is 3.35% and the net gain is ₹2,88,020.

A calculator that ignores the proviso applies 20% to the whole ₹2,98,000 and reports ₹59,600 plus ₹2,384 of cess, or ₹61,980. That is ₹52,000 of tax nobody owes, and it is the single most expensive error in Indian capital gains arithmetic. The relief is written into sections 196, 197 and 198 alike, it applies only to residents, and it applies only under the new regime that this tool models.

Your other income does one more job. When it plus the gain exceeds ₹50,00,000, the result adds a line telling you that surcharge may apply and is not included: surcharge runs at 10% above ₹50 lakh, 15% above ₹1 crore and 25% above ₹2 crore, with a 15% cap on capital gains, and it carries its own marginal relief. Above that threshold the number on screen is a floor, not a total.

How does the capital gain tax calculator treat gold, property and debt funds?

The capital gain tax calculator treats gold, property, debt funds, unlisted shares and foreign stocks as “Other assets”, which means a 24-month long-term threshold, 12.5% under section 197 with no ₹1,25,000 exemption on a long-term gain, and slab rates on a short-term one.

The missing exemption is the first surprise. A non-equity asset bought for ₹10,00,000 and sold for ₹18,00,000 after 40 months, with ₹50,000 of expenses and ₹8,00,000 of other income, gives a long-term gain of ₹7,50,000. Section 197 charges 12.5% on all of it: ₹93,750 plus ₹3,750 of cess is ₹97,500, an effective 13.00%, leaving ₹6,52,500. Applying the ₹1,25,000 exemption here, as many spreadsheets do, would produce ₹81,250 and leave ₹16,250 unpaid.

The slab branch is the second surprise, and it is larger. Gold bought for ₹2,00,000 and sold for ₹3,50,000 after 10 months, with ₹11,00,000 of other income, gives a short-term gain of ₹1,50,000 that is added to your ordinary income. Total income moves from ₹11,00,000 to ₹12,50,000, which crosses the ₹12,00,000 ceiling of the section 156 rebate: the ₹60,000 rebate that made your salary tax nil disappears. Slab tax on ₹12,50,000 is ₹67,500, marginal relief caps it at the ₹50,000 by which income exceeds ₹12,00,000, and cess of ₹2,000 brings the total to ₹52,000. A gain of ₹1,50,000 has cost 34.67%, and the net is ₹98,000. Without marginal relief the same case would read ₹70,200, which is ₹18,200 too much.

One classification limit belongs here. Listed bonds and listed REITs turn long-term after 12 months under section 2(101)(b), but because they carry no STT their long-term gain still sits in section 197. The tool’s two-way asset choice sends them to “Other assets” and therefore to the 24-month line, so between month 13 and month 24 it will call them short-term when the law already calls them long-term. If that is your case, check the classification with a Chartered Accountant before you rely on the figure.

How do you read the capital gain tax calculator’s result?

Read the capital gain tax calculator’s result by starting from “Tax payable” and then reading “Gain type”, because the section named there is what explains every other row. In the base example the tax payable is ₹9,620, the gain type is “LTCG · section 198” and the effective tax rate is 4.83%.

The seven rows answer seven different questions. “Tax payable” already includes the 4% cess and the ₹10 rounding. “Net gain after tax” is the gain minus that tax. “Effective tax rate” divides the tax by the gain, and it is almost never equal to the headline rate. “Gain type” names the branch and the section. “LTCG exemption used” shows how much of the ₹1,25,000 this disposal consumed, and it is ₹0 outside section 198. “Basic exemption used” shows how much of the ₹4,00,000 proviso absorbed the gain. “Unused prior losses” shows the carried-forward losses that were larger than this year’s gain and stay available. Below the rows, a “show the maths” line restates the working as a taxable base and a tax including cess, which for the base example reads ₹74,000 and ₹9,620.

Beyond those seven, one row and two messages appear only in specific cases. A “Loss carried forward (8 years)” row is added when the disposal ends in a loss, and it shows the amount that stays available for the next eight tax years. A surcharge notice is added to the reading whenever your other income plus the gain exceeds ₹50,00,000, and it states plainly that the amount is not calculated. A different reading line replaces the usual one when the disposal is a loss, naming the loss, restating that tax is nil and that the carry-forward runs for up to 8 tax years only if the return is filed on time. The result never shows a filing deadline of its own: for the record, a resident individual with capital gains and no business income files ITR-2 by 31 July 2027 for tax year 2026-27, reporting the disposal in Schedule CG.

What does the capital gain tax calculator show when the sale is a loss?

When the sale is a loss, the capital gain tax calculator shows ₹0 of tax payable, names the loss in the “Gain type” row as a short-term or long-term capital loss, prints the negative amount in “Net gain after tax”, reads “n/a” in the effective rate row, and adds the “Loss carried forward (8 years)” row with the amount that survives for the next eight tax years.

Listed shares bought for ₹3,00,000 and sold for ₹2,40,000 after 8 months, with ₹800 of expenses, produce a short-term capital loss of ₹60,800. The gain type row reads “Short-term capital loss”, the tax is ₹0 and the reading line reminds you that the carry-forward depends on an on-time return rather than on the loss itself.

What happens to that ₹60,800 is decided outside the tool, and the rules are worth knowing before March. A short-term capital loss can be set off against both short-term and long-term capital gains; a long-term capital loss only against long-term gains; neither can touch your salary. Both carry forward for 8 tax years, in this case until tax year 2034-35. The condition is absolute: the loss survives only if the return is filed by the due date, which is 31 July 2027 for a resident individual filing ITR-2. A late return does not delay the carry-forward, it destroys it.

Losses you already carry belong in the Advanced field, where the tool subtracts them from this year’s gain before the ₹1,25,000 exemption, in that order. Whatever is left over appears in “Unused prior losses” and continues to age with its original vintage. The tool does not check whether a carried loss is short-term or long-term, and it does not check how old it is, so a long-term loss set against a short-term gain will pass unnoticed here and be rejected in the return.

What are the limits of the capital gain tax calculator?

The main limit of the capital gain tax calculator is that it prices one disposal for a resident individual under the new tax regime, so the result is only as accurate as that description of you.

The following points sit outside the calculation:

• Surcharge. 10% above ₹50 lakh of total income, 15% above ₹1 crore and 25% above ₹2 crore, capped at 15% on capital gains and carrying its own marginal relief. The tool warns above ₹50,00,000 and computes nothing.
• The old tax regime. Its rates, its basic exemption limits of ₹2,50,000, ₹3,00,000 or ₹5,00,000 by age, and its Chapter VI-A deductions are not modelled. Only the new regime of section 202, which is the default, is.
• Grandfathering at 31 January 2018. For listed shares and equity funds bought before 1 February 2018, the cost is the higher of actual cost and the lower of the fair market value at 31 January 2018 and the sale price. The tool applies the cost you type.
• The optional 20% with indexation on land or buildings bought before 23 July 2024, which section 197 still allows to resident individuals and HUFs. The tool always applies 12.5% without indexation, which may not be the cheaper route.
• Reinvestment exemptions on property, such as buying a house or specified bonds. They can remove the tax entirely and are never modelled here.
• Share buybacks and Sovereign Gold Bonds bought on the secondary market, whose treatment changed with Budget 2026. Neither is calculated and no regime is asserted for them.
• Listed bonds and listed REITs, long-term at 12 months under section 2(101)(b) but treated here as other assets, and off-market sales of listed shares, which pay no STT and therefore leave sections 196 and 198 entirely.
• Foreign assets and foreign tax credit. Foreign stocks run through the other-assets branch, but Schedule FA reporting, Form 67 and TCS on LRS remittances are compliance matters this tool does not touch. Amounts must already be in rupees.
• Dividends, taxed as ordinary income at slab rates with 10% TDS, and advance tax with interest under sections 234B and 234C, which is the first thing a large March gain triggers.
• Lot reconstruction. There is no FIFO register here: the tool uses the cost you enter, while your AIS and Form 26AS often show the sale without the cost.

Two technical notes complete the picture. The engine works at full precision and rounds the final tax once to the nearest ₹10 under section 516, so a few rupees of difference against your own arithmetic is expected. And it calculates the tax, not the filing: the disposal still has to be reported in Schedule CG of ITR-2 by 31 July 2027. All figures reflect the Income-tax Act, 2025 and the Income Tax Department’s published rates as at 29 July 2026.

What is the difference between a capital gain tax calculation and an intraday and F&O tax calculation?

The difference between a capital gain tax calculation and an intraday and F&O tax calculation is the head of income: a capital gain is taxed under special rates that ignore your salary, while intraday and F&O results are business income taxed at your slab rates, with different deductions and different loss rules. It is not the same tax at another rate.

The dividing line is delivery. If the shares were delivered to your demat account and later sold, you are in this tool. If the position opened and closed the same day, or if it was a future or an option, the result is business income and the intraday and F&O tax calculator is the right page, because slab rates, deductible costs and two separate loss buckets change the answer completely. Crypto is a third regime again, with its own flat rate under section 194, handled by the crypto tax calculator.

Which calculators are related to the capital gain tax calculator?

The calculators related to the capital gain tax calculator cover the steps on either side of the tax: the profit that goes into it, the monthly investing that built the position, and the other two Indian tax regimes that a portfolio runs into.

The calculators related to the capital gain tax calculator are listed below:

• Stock Profit Calculator: works out the gross profit on a share position, which is the figure this tax calculation starts from.
• DCA Calculator: models the monthly SIP that built the units you are now redeeming, and shows the cost of acquisition side of the gain.
• Investment Calculator: projects a long horizon, the one in which a 12.5% long-term rate replaces a 20% short-term one.
• Crypto Tax Calculator: applies the flat 30% of section 194 to crypto, which is not a capital gain in India whatever the exchange statement calls it.
• Intraday & F&O Tax Calculator: taxes intraday and derivatives results as business income at slab rates, with STT deductible.

If you are still deciding where to hold stocks and mutual funds, the full set of tools sits on the calculators hub.

FAQ

This calculator is provided for education and does not replace tax advice. It estimates Indian income-tax on a single capital gain of a resident individual in tax year 2026-27 under the new tax regime, applying sections 196, 197 and 198 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, the ₹1,25,000 listed equity exemption, the ₹4,00,000 basic exemption proviso, slab rates with section 156 rebate and marginal relief, and the 4% health and education cess; it excludes surcharge, the old regime, grandfathering, indexation options, reinvestment exemptions, buybacks and Sovereign Gold Bonds, foreign reporting, advance tax and all filing obligations. Source: Income Tax Department (incometaxindia.gov.in) and the Income-tax Act, 2025. Data last checked: 29 July 2026. Check with a Chartered Accountant before you file.