• Got_Bent@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Mostly yes.

    You get people selling off companies or several depreciated rental properties, and they get hit with the tax and can’t get out of it.

    There are some circumstances that they can manipulate though. When the stock market crashed in 2008, people sold off at enormous realized losses, sat on the cash for thirty days to avoid the wash rule, and bought right back in at the same low prices.

    That created years worth of carried over losses that enabled them to recognize capital gains at zero tax.

    It’s a reasonably common strategy called loss harvesting.

    Certain flavors of stock options appear to be tax free at time of sale, but this is because the initial grant was deemed W-2 wages and was taxed when it was issued at ordinary income rates.