Did your loss-sale + repurchase trigger the wash-sale rule? Plug in the dates and amounts, and we'll tell you whether the IRS disallows the loss.
Either before OR after the sale counts. 40 days before sale.
Same ticker is obvious; same index in a different ETF (SPY ↔ VOO ↔ IVV) is widely treated as substantially identical too.
Safe — repurchase is outside the 61-day window.
$2,000.00 loss is fully deductible. Repurchase was 40 days before the sale, beyond the ±30-day boundary.
The IRS wash-sale rule (IRC §1091) blocks the loss when you sell a security at a loss and re-acquire a "substantially identical" security within 30 days before or after the sale. That's a 61-day window centered on the sale date. The disallowed loss isn't lost forever — it's added to the cost basis of the replacement shares, so you eventually claim the loss when you sell those shares (assuming you don't trigger another wash sale).
The rule catches more people than they expect. Common gotchas:
The standard playbook: sell the loser, immediately buy a similar-but-not-identical security to stay invested, wait 31 days, then swap back. SPY → IVV would be risky (same index). SPY → QQQ for 31 days is the classic safe swap if you want broad-market exposure but don't mind a tilt. Index-fund families publish "wash-sale-safe" pairs explicitly.
Run this calculator as a one-off check, sure. But if you trade enough that wash sales matter, you want continuous tracking. WealthWatch monitors every realized loss across every linked account, flags repurchases inside the 61-day window, and shows your true after-wash-sale capital-gains picture year-round — so you don't discover a $4,000 disallowed loss when your accountant asks in March.
A wash sale happens when you sell a security at a loss and buy a "substantially identical" security within 30 days before or after the sale (a 61-day window total). The IRS disallows the loss — instead, it gets added to the cost basis of the replacement shares.
No. Wash-sale rules only apply to losses. If you sell at a gain, the IRS is happy to tax it; you can buy back immediately with no consequence.
The IRS hasn't given a clean definition. Selling SPY and buying SPY back is clearly a wash sale. SPY → VOO or SPY → IVV (same index, different issuer) is widely considered a wash sale. SPY → QQQ is generally fine — different indexes. Safest interpretation: same fund family + same index = substantially identical.
Yes. If you sell at a loss in your taxable brokerage and your spouse buys it back in their IRA within the 61-day window, the wash-sale rule still applies — and the disallowed loss is permanently lost when it tries to attach to IRA shares.
Sell at a loss, immediately buy a similar-but-not-identical security (e.g. swap SPY for QQQ for 31 days), then swap back. You realize the loss, stay invested, and avoid the wash sale.
As of 2026, no — the IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, not a security, so the wash-sale rule doesn't apply. Congress has proposed closing this loophole; current legislation hasn't passed.