Hello!
I’ve been using the same accountant for a few years now to file my taxes, and with some big life events coming up (like a home refinance), we’re planning to sell some stock from our brokerage account to apply the proceeds towards our mortgage principal.
I’m trying to figure out how much of the sale would go to taxes and other expenses. We live in NYC, and I’m assuming a long-term capital gains tax rate of 15% plus around 10% for city and state taxes, so I’d lose about 25% of the sale to taxes. For example, if I sell $100k worth of stock, I’d pay $25k in taxes and put $75k towards the mortgage.
Here’s where I’m a bit confused—my accountant mentioned that this stock sale wouldn’t count as income, so as long as our W-2 income plus the stock sale is below $583K (we’re married), the 25% tax is all I’d need to pay. Is that correct? I was under the impression that it could trigger higher taxes, especially if it pushes our total income up.
I just want to make sure I’m planning correctly. Does anyone have experience with this? Are there any calculators or formulas that you’d recommend for figuring this out? Thanks in advance.