How much regular federal income tax does my rental sale add?
This free rental-sale calculator adjusts basis for depreciation allowed or allowable, separates ordinary equipment recapture from unrecaptured real-property gain, and stacks remaining long-term gains. It treats 25% as a maximum for unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, not a flat rate on every depreciation dollar. Only fully taxable, supported gain sales are accepted.
depreciation recapture calculator
Quick answer
Rental-sale gain is not one flat tax category: adjusted basis, ordinary equipment recapture, unrecaptured 1250 gain, and remaining long-term gain have distinct treatment.
Also answers
- rental sale tax calculator
- unrecaptured section 1250 gain
- section 1245 recapture calculator
Good fit when
- Straight-line rental building gain sales
- Supported rental sales with separately allocated equipment
Have ready
- Real-property original basis, improvements, proceeds, selling costs
- Depreciation allowed and allowable
- Optional separately allocated equipment basis, proceeds, costs, and depreciation
- Other ordinary taxable income, positive long-term gains, year, and status
- Pre-sale NIIT MAGI, passive-sale classification, holding-period and scope confirmations
Result you get
Adjusted bases, recognized gain by character, unrecaptured gain at ordinary versus maximum 25% rates, and incremental regular federal income tax.
How this calculation works
- Reduce each asset's pre-depreciation cost basis by the greater of allowed or allowable depreciation; subtract selling costs from proceeds.
- Separate equipment Section 1245 ordinary recapture, straight-line real-property unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, and remaining long-term gain.
- Block passive-sale NIIT threshold crossings using supplied pre-sale MAGI. A nonpassive exclusion must be independently verified, not assumed from active management.
- Use the restricted Schedule D Tax Worksheet structure, including ordinary rates below the 25% ceiling and 0/15/20% gain stacking.
- Subtract pre-sale regular federal income tax from post-sale regular tax; use rate schedules rather than filing tax-table rounding.
- 2027 indexed limits are not presented as published law. The 2027 option uses a labeled 2026 provisional baseline; enacted nonindexed rules are kept separate.
Common mistakes and caveats
- Real property and optional separately valued equipment must each be held over one year. Straight-line building depreciation only; accelerated/QIP building recapture is unsupported.
- No mixed losses, capital-loss carryovers, Section 1231 lookback, suspended losses, installment/1031 treatment, home exclusion, investment-interest election, QBI, NIIT, or AMT.
- The price is proceeds before debt payoff. Paying off a mortgage does not itself reduce the taxable gain.
FAQ
Is all rental depreciation taxed at 25% on sale?
No. For supported straight-line real property, depreciation-related gain is unrecaptured Section 1250 gain with a maximum 25% rate. Lower ordinary brackets can apply to part of that gain. The tool follows the restricted Schedule D Tax Worksheet stacking rather than multiplying all depreciation by 25%.
What if I never claimed depreciation?
Failing to claim it does not generally preserve the original basis. The calculator uses the greater of depreciation actually allowed and depreciation legally allowable. Correcting omitted depreciation may require separate tax procedures outside this estimator.
How are appliances and other equipment treated?
Separately allocated Section 1245 equipment can produce ordinary recapture up to the lesser of equipment gain and depreciation/expensing. Any supported remaining equipment gain joins the regular long-term gain. Building and equipment proceeds, costs, and basis must not overlap.
Does land depreciation increase recapture?
Land is not depreciable. Real-property basis here can include land, but the accumulated depreciation inputs should only include depreciation legally attributable to depreciable property. A separately valued land/building allocation still needs valid records.
Can this handle a loss sale or a five-year Section 1231 lookback?
No. Loss netting and lookback recategorization can change gain character, so those cases are blocked. The supported model assumes positive separately allocated gains and no other Section 1231 losses or lookback amounts.
Is the result the total federal tax on my sale?
It is incremental regular federal income tax for the supported scope, using rate schedules. A passive sale pushing supplied NIIT MAGI above the filing-status threshold is blocked. AMT, suspended-loss releases, state tax, installment sales, home exclusions, and exchanges remain outside scope.
Last updated & sources
Last updated October 13, 2026.
TaxGuide Pro provides free state and federal tax calculators for individuals, freelancers, and small businesses.