Is selling a mutual fund a capital gain?
If the mutual fund held the capital asset for more than one year, the nature of the income from a sale of the capital asset is capital gain, and the mutual fund passes it on to you as a capital gain distribution.
Like income from the sale of any other investment, if you have owned the mutual fund shares for a year or more, any profit or loss generated by the sale of those shares is taxed as long-term capital gains.
Some investors also may consider selling fund shares before a distribution to avoid the tax due. If the investor had gains on the shares at the time of the sale, the realized gains would be taxable in the year the shares were sold.
When you make a withdrawal from a mutual fund that is in a taxable account, you'll owe taxes based on how long you've owned those shares. Profits on shares held a year or less are taxed at the rate for short-term capital gains, which is the same as the rate on your other income and might be as high as 37%.
Mutual funds are not taxed twice. However, some investors may mistakenly pay taxes twice on some distributions. For example, if a mutual fund reinvests dividends into the fund, an investor still needs to pay taxes on those dividends.
Short-term capital gains (assets held 12 months or less) are taxed at your ordinary income tax rate, whereas long-term capital gains (assets held for more than 12 months) are currently subject to federal capital gains tax at a rate of up to 20%.
- Wait as long as you can to sell. ...
- Buy mutual fund shares through your traditional IRA or Roth IRA. ...
- Buy mutual fund shares through your 401(k) account. ...
- Know what kinds of investments the fund makes. ...
- Use tax-loss harvesting. ...
- See a tax professional.
The only way to avoid receiving, and paying taxes on, a fund's capital gain distribution is to sell the entire position before the record date.
If a fund consistently underperforms over multiple periods and fails to deliver satisfactory returns, consider exiting the investment. Research and select funds with a similar investment objective but better track records and performance history to redirect your investments.
Long-term capital gain = Final Sale Price - (indexed cost of acquisition + indexed cost of improvement + cost of transfer), where the indexed cost of acquisition equals the cost of acquisition x cost inflation index of transfer/cost inflation index of acquisition.
How much tax will I pay if I cash out my mutual funds?
| Status of Filer | Single | Married, Filing Separately |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $0 to $40,400 | $0 to $40,400 |
| 15% | $40,401 to $445,850 | $40,401 to $250,800 |
| 20% | $445,851 and higher | $250,801 and higher |
Selling mutual fund shares
Mutual fund shares are sold the same way that they're bought: either through the fund company directly or through your broker. You'll receive the next available net asset value as your price for each share sold. You'll also have to pay any applicable fees or charges.
The right time to redeem mutual funds depends on your financial goals and the performance of the fund. You should redeem your units when you are close to achieving your goal or when the fund is not meeting your expectations.
In most, if not all, cases, when a mutual fund is competently managed you will not see any tax consequences from a reinvestment. However, if you receive a capital gains distribution you may owe capital gains taxes on that money.
Mutual fund capital gain “distributions” are broken down into two categories: long-term capital gains (LTCG) which occur when a stock is sold after being held in the portfolio for longer than one year; and short-term capital gains (STCG) which occur when a stock is sold after a holding period of one year or less.
Capital gains generated by funds held in a taxable account will result in taxable capital gains, even if you reinvest your capital gains back into the fund. Thus, it may be smart not to reinvest the capital gains in a taxable account so that you have the cash to pay the taxes due.
However, if you have noticed significantly poor performance over the last two or more years, it may be time to cut your losses and move on. To help your decision, compare the fund's performance to a suitable benchmark or to similar funds. Exceptionally poor comparative performance should be a signal to sell the fund.
Investors can switch mutual funds without selling their shares and paying capital gains taxes, which allows them to change their investment approach. A switch fund investment organisation takes money from several investors and buys equities, bonds, and short-term debt.
If those assets are worth more when the mutual fund sells them than they were when it bought them, the fund will owe capital gains taxes that its remaining members must pay.
For instance, if an investor invested Rs 3 lakh in an Equity Fund in January 2024, with a 20% annual return and redeemed it in February 2025 for Rs 3.60 lakh, the capital gains of Rs 60,000 remained tax-free as it stayed below the Rs 1 lakh threshold for that financial year.
Can you offset mutual fund gains with stock losses?
Gains and losses in mutual funds
Short-term capital gains distributions from mutual funds are treated as ordinary income for tax purposes. Unlike short-term capital gains resulting from the sale of securities held directly, the investor cannot offset them with capital losses.
The rule of 8-4-3 for mutual funds states that if you invest Rs 30,000 monthly into an SIP with a return of 12% per annum, then your portfolio will add Rs 50 lacs in the first 8 years, Rs 50 lacs in the next 4 years to become Rs 1 cr in total value and adds further Rs 50 lacs in the next 3 yrs to reach Rs 1.5 cr.
The 90-Day Equity Wash Rule states that anyone transferring assets out of an investment contract fund must transfer the assets into a stock fund, balanced fund, or bond fund with an average maturity of three years or more.
Mutual funds have sales charges, and that can take a big bite out of your return in the short run. To mitigate the impact of these charges, an investment horizon of at least five years is ideal.
Debt mutual funds are used to invest in debt instruments from the market. The long term capital gain tax rate on mutual funds is 20% after indexation, which adjusts the acquisition cost for inflation using the Cost Inflation Index (CII).
