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Free instant short-term capital gains tax calculator for India FY 2025-26. Equity STCG at 20% + cess with slab rates. Accurate, no login. Calculate now!
Free STCG tax calculator India FY 2025-26. Calculate short-term gains tax on equity (20%), debt funds, property & gold at slab rates. Sec 111A covered.
If you've sold shares, mutual funds, property or gold within the last year or two, there's a good chance part of that profit counts as a short-term capital gain — and the way it gets taxed depends a lot on what you actually sold. This calculator handles equity shares, equity mutual funds, property, and gold for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), and accounts for Section 111A's flat rate as well as the slab-rate treatment that applies to everything else. No login, nothing saved anywhere.
Heads up — the rate changed in 2024. A lot of older articles online still quote 15% for Section 111A. That's outdated. Budget 2024 pushed it up to 20%, effective from July 23, 2024, and that's the figure used throughout this page for listed equity shares and equity mutual funds.
So in short: this is a free STCG calculator for FY 2025-26, built around the actual current rules — 20% flat under Section 111A for equity, slab rate for debt funds under Section 50AA, and slab rate for property and gold sold within 24 months.
There isn't one universal STCG rate in India — it really comes down to what you sold. Equity gets the concessional treatment; almost everything else gets taxed like regular income. Since Budget 2024 bumped Section 111A from 15% to 20%, that's the number to use now. For the slab-rate assets below, your tax bracket actually matters, so it's worth running your numbers through the old vs new tax regime calculator first if you're not sure which regime you're under.
| Asset Type | Counts as Short-Term If Held | STCG Rate, FY 2025-26 | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed Equity Shares | Under 12 months | 20% flat | Section 111A |
| Equity Mutual Funds (65%+ in Indian equity) | Under 12 months | 20% flat | Section 111A |
| Debt / Specified Mutual Funds (under 65% equity) | Under 24 months | Slab rate | Section 50AA |
| Property / Real Estate | Under 24 months | Slab rate | — |
| Physical Gold | Under 24 months | Slab rate | — |
| Unlisted / Private Company Shares | Under 24 months | Slab rate | — |
| Sovereign Gold Bonds | Under 12 months | Slab rate | — |
| Listed Bonds / Debentures | Under 12 months | Slab rate | — |
A 4% Health and Education Cess gets added on top of whatever tax is calculated, no matter the asset. If your total income crosses ₹50 lakh, surcharge kicks in too. NRIs follow the same 20% rate under Section 111A, plus surcharge where applicable.
One thing that trips people up: "FY 2025-26" and "AY 2026-27" aren't two different things — they're the same tax year described from two angles. FY 2025-26 is the period you actually earned the money (April 2025 to March 2026). AY 2026-27 is when you file the return for that income. If you've been searching "STCG AY 2026-27," you're looking for the exact same rates listed above.
This is where a lot of people get caught out, because the 12-month rule everyone knows from stock market investing doesn't apply everywhere. Property, gold, and debt funds all run on a 24-month clock instead.
Equity shares and equity mutual funds — under 12 months is short-term. Buy on January 1st and sell on December 30th, and you're still in STCG territory at 20%. Push the sale to January 2nd of the following year instead, and it flips to LTCG at 12.5% — worth checking with the long-term capital gains tax calculator if you're close to that line. Also worth knowing: it's the settlement date that counts, not the day you placed the trade.
Property — anything sold within 24 months of buying it is short-term, and gets taxed at slab rate rather than a flat percentage. Cross the 24-month mark and you're into LTCG at 12.5% with no indexation benefit (that benefit was removed in Budget 2024). If you're also collecting rent on a property you're thinking of selling, the rent income tax calculator India is worth a look too.
Debt funds under Section 50AA — same 24-month line, but honestly the holding period barely matters anymore for these. Since the rule change, any fund with under 65% equity exposure gets taxed at slab rate regardless of how long you held it.
Physical gold and unlisted shares — again, 24 months. Sell gold before that and it's slab rate. Gold ETFs, interestingly, follow the equity mutual fund rules instead. And Sovereign Gold Bonds held all the way to maturity are exempt entirely — no STCG question even arises.
This is probably the most misunderstood part of STCG. Whether your mutual fund gets the nice 20% rate or gets lumped in with your regular income depends entirely on how much equity it holds.
If a fund keeps 65% or more in Indian equities, it's treated just like a stock — 20% flat under Section 111A, plus the 4% cess, working out to roughly 20.8% effective. Anyone holding ULIPs alongside equity funds should know the comparison goes the other way too — the ULIP capital gains tax calculator follows broadly similar logic above certain premium thresholds.
Drop below that 65% threshold — debt funds, international funds, gold ETFs, most fund-of-funds — and you're in Section 50AA territory, taxed at slab rate no matter how long you've held the units. These also lost indexation back in 2023, so there's no inflation adjustment cushioning the gain anymore.
Hybrid and balanced advantage funds sit in between, and the classification just comes down to the equity percentage in the factsheet on the date of sale. Above 65%, it's an equity fund. Below that, it's treated as debt.
Sell a house, plot, or flat before the 24-month mark, and the profit is short-term — which in practice means it just gets folded into your regular income and taxed at whatever slab you fall into. There's no flat rate cushion like equity gets, and no indexation benefit either.
Say your salary is ₹12 lakh and you make ₹8 lakh in property STCG — your taxable income for the year becomes ₹20 lakh, full stop, taxed under whichever regime applies to you. The old vs new tax regime calculator is genuinely useful here since the right regime choice can shift the outcome meaningfully.
Hold the property past 24 months instead, and it becomes LTCG — 12.5% flat, no indexation (that changed in Budget 2024 too). The long-term capital gains tax calculator handles that side of the calculation.
Short answer: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and it makes a real difference to your final tax bill.
Equity shares and equity mutual funds under Section 111A are taxed separately at 20% — they don't get added to your salary for slab purposes. Your salary just keeps getting taxed on its own, which you can check with the salary tax calculator India.
Property, gold, debt funds, and unlisted shares are different — the gain gets added straight into your total income. Earn ₹9 lakh in salary and ₹4 lakh from a short-term property sale, and you're now looking at ₹13 lakh taxed together at slab rate. The standard deduction tax impact calculator is handy here too, since deductions reduce that combined number before the slab rates even apply.
What exactly is a short-term capital gain? It's the profit from selling something — shares, mutual fund units, a flat, gold — before it's been held long enough to qualify as long-term. For equity and equity funds that line is 12 months. For property, gold, unlisted shares, and debt funds it's 24 months. You arrive at the actual gain by taking the sale price and subtracting your cost, your transfer expenses, and any losses you're setting off.
What's the STCG rate for FY 2025-26 / AY 2026-27? For listed shares and equity mutual funds, it's 20% flat under Section 111A — raised from 15% by Budget 2024, in effect since July 23, 2024. Add the 4% cess and the effective rate works out to about 20.8%. Everything else — property, gold, debt funds, unlisted shares — gets taxed at your normal slab rate instead, so it could be 5%, 20%, 30%, or somewhere in between depending on your income.
So how does the actual taxation work? Equity is straightforward: gain × 20%, plus 4% cess, and that's it — separate from your other income entirely. Property and the other slab-rate assets work differently: the gain joins your total income, and the combined figure gets taxed together. Someone earning ₹10 lakh salary plus ₹5 lakh from a property sale within 24 months is taxed on the full ₹15 lakh at slab rates.
What about mutual funds specifically — equity versus debt? Equity funds (65%+ in Indian equity) get the 20% Section 111A treatment if sold within 12 months, same as direct stock holdings. Debt and specified funds under Section 50AA get slab rate regardless of how long you held them — holding period stopped mattering for these once the rule changed. Hybrid funds go one way or the other depending purely on their equity allocation, so it's worth checking the factsheet before assuming.
Is the holding period always 12 months? No, and this catches a lot of people out. Equity shares and equity funds use 12 months. Property, gold, unlisted shares, and debt funds all use 24 months instead. And for listed securities specifically, what counts is the date of transfer or settlement — not whenever you placed the trade.
What's the deal with selling property within 24 months? The profit counts as short-term and gets taxed at your slab rate, not a flat percentage, and there's no indexation benefit available for it. It simply adds to your total income for the year. For instance: buy a flat for ₹40 lakh, sell it 22 months later for ₹55 lakh, and that ₹15 lakh gain joins your salary and gets taxed at whatever slab that combined income lands in. Wait past 24 months and it becomes LTCG at 12.5% instead.
Does my capital gain get added to my salary? Depends entirely on what you sold. Equity gains under Section 111A stay separate — taxed at 20%, no interaction with your salary slab. Property, gold, debt funds, and unlisted shares behave the opposite way and get folded directly into total income. The gap matters: ₹12 lakh salary plus ₹5 lakh equity STCG means 20% tax on just that ₹5 lakh. The same person with ₹5 lakh property STCG instead ends up with ₹17 lakh total income, which can push them into a noticeably higher bracket.
Can losses offset my STCG? Yes. Short-term losses can be set off against both short-term and long-term gains made in the same year. Anything left over after that can be carried forward for up to 8 assessment years — but only if you file your return on time. One catch: these losses can't be set against salary or business income, only against other capital gains. So ₹5 lakh STCG with ₹2 lakh in losses to offset leaves you taxable on just ₹3 lakh.
Is STCG taxed worse than LTCG? Quite a bit worse, yes. Equity STCG sits at 20%, while equity LTCG drops to 12.5% (and you get a ₹1.25 lakh exemption on top of that) — the long-term capital gains tax calculator lays out the comparison clearly. Property follows the same pattern: slab rate (up to 30%) if short-term versus a flat 12.5% if long-term. On a ₹10 lakh equity gain, that's roughly ₹2.08 lakh in STCG tax against about ₹1.04 lakh under LTCG — a full lakh of difference just from holding a bit longer.
How is the cost of acquisition worked out? Take what you actually paid, plus brokerage, STT, stamp duty, and GST at purchase, plus any demat charges tied to buying the asset. A few exceptions worth knowing: inherited assets use fair market value as of the inheritance date, not what the original owner paid. Bonus shares have zero cost of acquisition — the full sale amount counts as gain. Rights shares use whatever you paid to exercise the right. And unlike some LTCG situations, there's no indexation adjustment available for STCG at all.
What if my gain is genuinely large — what would the tax look like? On equity, it's just gain × 20% plus 4% cess. ₹5 lakh in gains works out to roughly ₹1,04,000 in tax. ₹10 lakh comes to about ₹2,08,000. ₹50 lakh lands around ₹10,40,000. Once total income passes ₹50 lakh, a 10% surcharge gets added on top of the base tax — so for a ₹1 crore gain, you're looking at roughly ₹20 lakh base tax, plus ₹2 lakh surcharge, plus cess, landing near ₹22.88 lakh in total.
How exactly is the holding period counted for shares? It runs from the acquisition date to the transfer or settlement date — the trade date itself isn't what's used. Buy January 1, 2025 and sell December 31, 2025, and that's 364 days — still short-term. Push the sale to January 2, 2026, and it crosses into long-term at 366 days. Bonus shares count their holding period from the allotment date, not from whenever the original shares were bought. Rights shares work the same way — the clock starts at allotment.
What is Section 50AA, in plain terms? It's a Finance Act 2023 provision covering "specified mutual funds" — anything with under 65% in domestic equity. That includes debt funds, international funds, gold and silver ETFs, and most fund-of-funds. These all get taxed at slab rate now, with holding period basically irrelevant, and indexation was removed entirely from April 1, 2023 onward. Before this, debt funds used to get a flat 20% rate with indexation if held over 3 years — that benefit is gone.
Is anything I enter here actually stored or sent anywhere? No. Every calculation happens locally in your browser — nothing about your income, purchase price, sale price, or any other figure ever leaves your device or touches a server. You could disconnect from the internet right after the page loads and the calculator would still work exactly the same.
The Section 111A rate and rules referenced throughout this page come from the Income Tax Department, Government of India.
Calculations verified by our team including CA Anita Patil. View our full accuracy policy and meet the team →
