Replying to Avatar BitcoinStu

One reason I'm selling some bitcoin right now: As a US citizen the long term capital gain rate for my status is $44,625 at 0%. If I do not take advantage of this, it's wasted.

So for example if I want to buy a house in 3years for $300,000 worth of bitcoin, I pay a lot of long term capital gains tax on that in the future when I want the house.

But if instead, in these years while I'm waiting, I sell $44,625 of bitcoin, take the 0% capital gain tax, and then immediately re-purchase the bitcoin, it adjusts my cost basis up by $44,625 per year. If I do this for 3 years, then when I'm ready to buy my house in 3 years, I have $133,875 of added cost basis, saving me 15% (or more) tax on all that.

If instead I ignore this opportunity and just hodl until I need the $300,000 I will pay dramatically more taxes.

Something to think about.
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Tyler Burns 1y ago

It should be noted that the $44k bracket is an income bracket. That means unless you brought in $0 in taxable income for the year, you can't harvest an entire $44k in cap gains at a 0% tax rate.

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BitcoinStu 1y ago

That's correct, income for which you do not have offsetting deductions, taxable income, will reduce the amount of gain you can harvest. Perhaps I should have mentioned this as well, but it's already somewhat complicated subject and I didn't want to add complication.

Anyone actually looking to manage their taxes should consult with a quality CPA, and everyone's situation is very different.