Nevada does not have a capital gains tax. The state constitution forbids taxing personal income, and capital gains are a form of income, so profits from selling stocks, real estate, cryptocurrency, or other assets are not taxed by Nevada regardless of how long you owned the asset. Federal capital gains rules still apply to the same sale, and those are the rules that decide what you actually owe.
Why Nevada Does Not Tax Capital Gains
Nevada’s constitution bars the legislature from imposing a tax on the income of individuals.1FindLaw. Nevada Constitution Art. 10, Section 1 That prohibition covers all profits from selling investments, real property, collectibles, or any other capital asset. Short-term and long-term gains are both outside the state’s reach, and you do not need to calculate, track, or report investment profits to any Nevada state agency for income tax purposes.
Nevada is one of a small group of states with no individual income tax at all. For someone selling appreciated stock or a rental property, that means only the federal side of the calculation matters.
What You Still Owe the Federal Government
Federal law taxes capital gains, and the rate depends on how long you held the asset and how much total income you have for the year.
Long-Term Rates (Assets Held More Than One Year)
If you owned the asset for more than a year before selling, the profit is a long-term capital gain and is taxed at 0, 15, or 20 percent.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses For tax year 2026, the brackets are:3Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32, Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
- 0 percent on taxable income up to $49,450 (single), $98,900 (married filing jointly), $49,450 (married filing separately), or $66,200 (head of household).
- 15 percent on taxable income above the 0 percent ceiling up to $545,500 (single), $613,700 (married filing jointly), $306,850 (married filing separately), or $579,600 (head of household).
- 20 percent on taxable income above the 15 percent ceiling.
The bracket is based on your overall taxable income, not the gain in isolation. A large sale can push part of the gain into a higher rate even if the rest sits at 0 or 15 percent.
Short-Term Rates (Assets Held One Year or Less)
Gains on assets held for a year or less are taxed as ordinary income at the same rates as your wages.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses For 2026, ordinary rates run from 10 percent up to 37 percent for single filers earning above $640,600 or married joint filers above $768,700.4Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 The holding period begins the day after you acquire the asset and includes the day you sell it, so a sale on day 365 is short-term while day 366 is long-term.
Net Investment Income Tax
A separate 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax applies on top of the regular capital gains rate if your modified adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 (single or head of household), $250,000 (married filing jointly), or $125,000 (married filing separately).5Internal Revenue Service. Net Investment Income Tax The 3.8 percent is charged on the lesser of your net investment income or the amount by which your income exceeds the threshold. These thresholds are not indexed for inflation, so more taxpayers fall into them over time. A single filer with $270,000 of modified adjusted gross income and $90,000 of net investment income would owe the 3.8 percent tax on $70,000, or $2,660.6Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers on the Net Investment Income Tax Stacked on the 20 percent long-term rate, that produces an effective top federal rate of 23.8 percent on long-term gains.
Collectibles and Depreciation Recapture
Two categories of long-term gain do not get the 0/15/20 percent treatment. Gains on collectibles such as coins, art, antiques, gems, and precious metals are taxed at a maximum of 28 percent. Gain attributable to depreciation you previously claimed on real property (for example, a rental building) is subject to depreciation recapture at a maximum of 25 percent.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses Any remaining gain on the property above the recaptured portion still gets the standard long-term rates.
Selling Your Nevada Home
The largest capital gain most Nevada residents ever realize comes from selling a home, and federal law lets you exclude a substantial amount of that gain. Single filers can exclude up to $250,000 of gain from the sale of a principal residence, and married couples filing jointly can exclude up to $500,000.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence
To qualify, you must have owned the home for at least two of the five years before the sale and used it as your principal residence for at least two of those same five years. The two years do not have to be consecutive. You also cannot have claimed the exclusion on another home sale in the two years before this one. For the full $500,000 joint exclusion, either spouse must satisfy the ownership test, both must satisfy the use test, and neither can have used the exclusion within the prior two years.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence
A surviving spouse who sells within two years of the other spouse’s death can still claim the full $500,000 amount, provided the joint-return conditions would have been met immediately before the date of death. Any gain above the applicable exclusion is taxed at the regular capital gains rate.
Basis Rules That Change What You Owe
Your gain is the sale price minus your cost basis, so how you acquired the asset matters.
Inherited property generally receives a stepped-up basis equal to its fair market value on the date of the decedent’s death.8Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances If a parent bought stock for $20,000 and it was worth $100,000 at their death, your basis is $100,000, and selling at $105,000 produces only a $5,000 gain. The estate’s executor may alternatively elect a valuation six months after death if an estate tax return is filed.
Gifted property is different. You generally take the donor’s original basis. Stock the donor bought for $20,000 and gifted when worth $100,000 keeps a $20,000 basis in your hands, so selling at $105,000 creates an $85,000 gain.9Internal Revenue Service. Property (Basis, Sale of Home, Etc.) If the fair market value at the time of the gift was below the donor’s basis, your basis for calculating a loss is that lower gift-date value.
Losses, Wash Sales, and Deferral Strategies
Capital losses offset capital gains. If losses exceed gains in a year, you can deduct up to $3,000 of the net loss against ordinary income ($1,500 if married filing separately), and any remaining loss carries forward indefinitely for individuals.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1212 – Capital Loss Carrybacks and Carryovers Carryovers keep their character: short-term losses stay short-term, long-term losses stay long-term, and each is applied first against gains of the same type before offsetting the annual $3,000 of ordinary income.
Selling a security at a loss and buying a substantially identical one within 30 days before or after the sale triggers the wash sale rule, which disallows the loss for that year.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1091 – Loss From Wash Sales of Stock or Securities The disallowed loss is added to the cost basis of the replacement shares, so the tax benefit is deferred rather than lost.
For investment or business real property, a Section 1031 like-kind exchange lets you defer the entire gain by reinvesting the proceeds into similar real property.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1031 – Exchange of Real Property Held for Productive Use or Investment Only real property qualifies. Stocks, personal property, and property held primarily for sale (such as a house-flipper’s inventory) do not. You have 45 days from transferring your relinquished property to identify the replacement in writing, and 180 days from that transfer to close, or the due date of your return including extensions, whichever comes first. Missing either deadline makes the full gain taxable.
A capital gain from any source can also be deferred by investing that amount into a Qualified Opportunity Fund within 180 days of realizing the gain. Hold the fund investment at least 10 years and any appreciation on that investment itself can be permanently excluded from tax.13Internal Revenue Service. Invest in a Qualified Opportunity Fund Legislation enacted in 2025 made the Opportunity Zone incentive permanent and reinstated a 5-year, 10 percent basis step-up.14U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Opportunity Zones Investors The original 2017 program required deferred gains to be recognized no later than December 31, 2026, and its 10 percent and additional 5 percent step-ups have expired for new investments, so check which version of the rules governs your investment.
How to Report a Sale
Nevada requires no state-level reporting for capital gains, but the IRS does. You will need your cost basis (purchase price adjusted for improvements, stock splits, or depreciation) and the dates you acquired and sold the asset.
Each transaction goes on Form 8949, which reconciles your records with the Form 1099-B your broker files.15Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets16Internal Revenue Service. Form 1099-B, Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions Totals from Form 8949 flow to Schedule D of your Form 1040, which produces your net gain or loss for the year.17Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 (2025)
Digital Assets
Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and other digital assets held as capital assets follow the same framework. You owe tax on any gain when you sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of them, and each transaction is reported on Form 8949.18Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets All digital asset activity must be reported to the IRS whether or not it produced a gain. Keep records of the asset type, date and time of each transaction, number of units, and the U.S. dollar fair market value at the time. Starting January 1, 2026, brokers must report cost basis information on certain digital asset transactions, so expect more detailed 1099 forms for crypto going forward.
A Note for Nevada Businesses
If you sell appreciated assets through a business rather than personally, Nevada’s Commerce Tax can enter the picture. It applies only to business entities whose Nevada gross revenue exceeds $4 million during the taxable year running July 1 through June 30, and only revenue above that $4 million threshold is taxed.19Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 363C.200 – Imposition, Payment of Tax, Filing of Return Rates run from 0.051 percent to 0.331 percent depending on industry classification, and revenue from selling appreciated property counts as part of overall gross revenue for this purpose.20Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes 363C.440 – Finance and Insurance (NAICS 52) Businesses at or below $4 million do not file, and the Commerce Tax does not reach personal investment sales.