Should I sell at a loss to offset capital gains?
This is a strategy many investors choose, and it can be effective if you haven't bought new shares of the same security within the past month and do not plan to purchase any in the following month. However, if you purchase additional shares of the same or substantially identical security within 30 days before or 30 days after the sale date, you will have made a "wash sale," and you cannot claim the loss on your income tax return. Instead, you can add the disallowed loss to the basis of the security in your account.
Cost basis is the price you paid to purchase a security plus any additional costs such as broker's fees or commissions.
When you sell a security, your tax liability is determined by how much you spent to buy the security (cost basis) and your sales price. If you sell a security for more than the original purchase price, the difference is taxable as a capital gain.
Gains from the sale of securities are generally taxable in the year of the sale, unless your investment is in a tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA, 401(k), or 529 plan. Generally, for those accounts, you only incur taxes when you start taking withdrawals.
Capital gains are taxed at different rates depending on your tax bracket and how long you've held a security. If you sell a security that you've held for more than a year, any resulting capital gains are considered long-term and are taxed at lower rates than ordinary income. Conversely, short-term capital gains are taxed as ordinary income. In addition to offsetting certain capital losses against capital gains, investors can generally deduct net capital losses of up to $3,000 from their taxable income each year. If you incur more than $3,000 in losses in a given year, you can carry forward the remaining loss balance to subsequent years.