Tax guides
Taxes on selling stock and Form 1099-B
Vordana Tax ·
If you sold stock, mutual funds or other investments in 2025, your brokerage usually sends you a Form 1099-B. This guide explains how your gain or loss is figured, the difference between short and long term, how much of a loss you can deduct and which forms everything goes on.
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Gain or loss: the sale price minus your cost basis
You are not taxed on all the money you received from the sale, only on the gain: the sale price minus your cost basis. Your cost basis is usually what you paid for the shares, including purchase commissions. If you sold for less than you paid, you have a loss.
Your 1099-B shows the sale price and, in most cases, the cost basis. If the brokerage did not report the basis to the IRS, you need to find it in your own records, such as purchase confirmations or statements. If you leave it out, the IRS may treat the whole sale price as gain.
Short term or long term
What changes the rate is how long you held the investment. If you held it one year or less, the gain is short-term and is taxed like your wages, at your regular rates. If you held it more than one year, it is long-term and gets lower rates: 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on your taxable income.
- Single or married filing separately: the 0% rate applies while your taxable income is no more than $48,350.
- Married filing jointly: the 0% rate applies up to $96,700.
- Head of household: the 0% rate applies up to $64,750.
- The 20% rate starts above $533,400 for single filers, $600,050 for married filing jointly, $566,700 for head of household and $300,000 for married filing separately. In between, the rate is 15%.
Losses offset your gains
A year's losses are first subtracted from that year's gains. If you end up with a net loss, you can subtract up to $3,000 of it from your other income, such as wages, or up to $1,500 if you are married filing separately.
A loss above that limit is not lost: it carries over to the next year and can be used then, and so on until it is used up. That is one more reason to keep each year's return.
Where it is reported: Form 8949 and Schedule D
Each sale goes on Form 8949, split into short and long term and by whether the basis was reported to the IRS. The totals move to Schedule D, which adds up your gains and losses and carries the result to your Form 1040.
Cryptocurrency and other digital assets are capital assets too: selling or exchanging them is reported the same way as a stock sale. Starting with 2025, platforms may send you a Form 1099-DA.
How Vordana Tax handles it
With Vordana Tax you can type in each sale from your 1099-B, or upload a photo or PDF of the form to fill in the boxes and then check them. If your brokerage sends a consolidated 1099, you can upload the whole statement. You can also enter crypto sales from your 1099-DA and the loss carried over from last year.
The software sorts short term from long term, applies the loss limit, works out what carries to next year and prepares Form 8949 and Schedule D with your Form 1040.
Questions
I sold at a loss. Do I have to report it?
Yes, and it helps you: the loss reduces your gains and, if any is left, up to $3,000 of your other income ($1,500 if married filing separately). Whatever you cannot use carries over to next year.
My 1099-B has no cost basis. What do I do?
Look for it in your purchase confirmations or older statements. If you got the shares through your job, by inheritance or as a gift, the basis follows special rules; gather the documents you have before you file.
I didn't sell anything, I just own stock. Do I owe tax?
Not for owning stock that went up in value. Tax on the gain is due when you sell. Dividends you receive are reported every year, on Form 1099-DIV.
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