You need to sell some stock to live on. Selling more than that is a timing choice — do it in a year you're working, or wait for one you're not. This prices that choice. Income tax and FICA on the wages are deliberately excluded; this is only what happens to your capital gains.
| Capital-gains tax | With work | Without work | Change |
|---|
Washington's capital-gains tax keys off the realized gain alone, so wages never move it. All of the damage is federal.
Filing status drives the deduction and the federal thresholds. Every figure below links to the authority that states it.
Switching reloads all federal presets, overwriting edits.
WA's 9.9% surcharge starts $1,000,000 above the deduction — that $1M is fixed in statute and not indexed, so it's derived here rather than entered ().
| Figure | Value | Authority | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard deduction MFJ | $32,200 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.14 | 2026 |
| Standard deduction Single | $16,100 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.14 | 2026 |
| Fed 0% LTCG ceiling MFJ | $98,900 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.03 | 2026 |
| Fed 15%→20% MFJ | $613,700 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.03 | 2026 |
| Fed 0% LTCG ceiling Single | $49,450 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.03 | 2026 |
| Fed 15%→20% Single | $545,500 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.03 | 2026 |
| NIIT 3.8%, $250K MFJ / $200K Single | unindexed | IRS — NIIT | all |
| WA standard deduction | $278,000 | WA DOR | 2025 |
| WA deduction is per individual, not doubled for MFJ | $250K base | RCW 82.87.060 | all |
| WA 7% + 2.9% surcharge over $1M | not indexed | RCW 82.87.040 | 2025→ |
| WA indexing mechanism | Oct CPI | RCW 82.87.150 | all |
| LTCG stacks above ordinary income | — | IRC §1(h)(1) | all |