Does West Virginia tax capital gains?

Yes. West Virginia has no separate or preferential capital gains rate — gains are added to ordinary income and taxed under the state's graduated income tax brackets, the same as wages.

What is the difference between short-term and long-term gains?

Assets held one year or less are short-term and taxed at ordinary federal rates. Assets held longer than a year are long-term and taxed at preferential federal rates of 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income.

Does West Virginia give any capital gains break?

Federally, long-term gains get a lower rate, but West Virginia taxes them as ordinary income. There is no state long-term discount, so the WV portion uses your marginal state bracket.

What about the Net Investment Income Tax?

High earners may owe an additional 3.8% federal Net Investment Income Tax on gains above income thresholds. This calculator focuses on ordinary federal and WV rates and does not add NIIT.

Are these brackets exact?

They are close approximations of current federal and West Virginia schedules for estimation. Your actual liability depends on filing status, deductions, and exact bracket figures — confirm with a tax professional.

West Virginia Capital Gains Tax Calculator

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Estimate tax on a West Virginia investment sale

When you sell a stock, fund, or other capital asset at a profit, you may owe both federal and West Virginia tax. The federal side depends on how long you held the asset; the West Virginia side does not — the Mountain State taxes capital gains as ordinary income.

How it works

Federal portion. If the gain is short-term (held one year or less), it is taxed at your ordinary federal marginal rate. If long-term (held over a year), it uses the preferential brackets:

Long-term federal: 0% up to ~$47,025 taxable income
                   15% up to ~$518,900
                   20% above

West Virginia portion. WV applies its graduated income tax brackets to the gain on top of your other income — there is no separate capital gains rate. The calculator estimates the WV marginal rate that your gain falls into.

Combined tax = Federal gain tax + WV gain tax
Effective rate = Combined tax / gain

Example and notes

A $20,000 long-term gain for a single filer with $90,000 of taxable income falls in the 15% federal long-term bracket and roughly WV’s top marginal band:

Federal: 0.15 x 20000 = $3,000
WV:      ~0.0482 x 20000 = ~$964
Total:   ~$3,964  (about 19.8% effective)

Notes: short-term gains cost more because they are taxed at ordinary federal rates. The Net Investment Income Tax (extra 3.8% federal) can apply to high earners and is not included. Use this as a planning estimate and confirm exact brackets for your filing status.