Quoted from AARP:
2021 was a banner year for most financial assets. The S&P 500 stock index, a broad measure of the U.S. stock market and a core holding in many brokerage accounts and 401(k) plans, rose nearly 27 percent last year. Many individual stocks, such as COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna (+143 percent) and automaker Ford Motor (+136 percent), posted even bigger gains. Homeowners also saw the equity in their homes spike, with the median price of an existing home — meaning half were higher and half were lower — jumping 13.9 percent to $353,900 in the past year through November.
The upshot? All that asset appreciation means retirees who sold assets with big gains to pay the monthly bills or lock in profits could be looking at a sizable 2021 capital gains bill from the IRS. Simply put, a capital gain is a tax on the profits (minus your cost basis) you make when you sell a financial asset.
“The good news is you made a lot of money last year in a lot of different investments; the bad news is Uncle Sam is coming to call,” says Daniel Genter, president, CEO and chief investment officer at RNC Genter Capital Management. And when it comes to investment returns, he adds, “it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.”
To give you an idea of how big a bite the IRS will take from last year’s investment gains, here’s a primer on 2021 capital gains tax rates for assets ranging from stocks to silver.