Sold shares within a year? Use this STCG calculator to instantly find your Section 111A tax liability — 20% rate, exemption set-off, and cess included.
Sold listed shares or an equity mutual fund within a year and don't know what you owe? The STCG calculator Section 111A above gives you the exact number in a few seconds, using the same formula your CA would use on a stock market gain. This page explains where that number comes from and where people slip up while filing.
This tool calculates tax on short-term capital gains from listed equity shares, equity-oriented mutual funds, and business trust units, taxed under Section 111A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It's built for active traders, salaried investors who dabble in the stock market, freelancers with a demat account on the side, and CAs computing client returns quickly. If your gain came from an STT-paid sale on a recognised exchange within 12 months of buying, this is the section that governs you.
Taxable STCG = Total STCG − Unused Basic Exemption (residents only)
Tax = Taxable STCG × 20% (sales on or after 23 July 2024)
or Taxable STCG × 15% (sales before 23 July 2024)
Total Tax Payable = Tax + 4% Health & Education Cess
Section 111A applies only when three conditions hold together: the asset is a listed equity share, equity mutual fund, or business trust unit; it's sold on a recognised stock exchange; and Securities Transaction Tax was paid on the transaction. Miss any one of these and your gain falls back to slab-rate taxation instead. You can read the section text directly on the Income Tax Department's site, and their own explainer confirms the 20% rate for transfers on or after 23 July 2024, with 15% applying to anything sold before that date.
No deductions under Chapter VI-A — no 80C, no 80D — apply against this STCG. On top of the 20% or 15% figure, add a 4% Health and Education Cess, a rate confirmed on the department's own tax rates page.
Under the new tax regime, the Section 87A rebate doesn't apply to this STCG at all — a bar the Finance Act 2025 made explicit from FY 2025-26 onward, per the department's return-applicability notes for AY 2026-27. [VERIFY: whether the same bar extends to the old regime — some CA sources say old-regime taxpayers can still claim the ₹12,500 rebate when total income including STCG stays under ₹5 lakh; others say the Finance Act 2025 bar applies to both regimes. No official CBDT clarification found either way; check the current-year ITR utility behaviour before relying on this for a client.] That new-regime exclusion trips up a lot of first-time filers.
Priya, a 34-year-old salaried employee in Pune, sold shares in September 2025 for a gain of ₹3,80,000. She held them for eight months, sold on the NSE, and STT was deducted at the time of sale. Her only other income for the year is ₹1,80,000 from a part-time consulting gig, and she's on the new tax regime.
Her basic exemption limit under the new regime is ₹4,00,000. Her other income of ₹1,80,000 leaves ₹2,20,000 of that limit unused. That shortfall gets adjusted against her STCG first.
Taxable STCG = ₹3,80,000 − ₹2,20,000 = ₹1,60,000 Tax at 20% = ₹32,000 Cess at 4% = ₹1,280 Total tax payable = ₹33,280
Without the exemption set-off, she'd have paid tax on the full ₹3,80,000. That adjustment alone saved her ₹44,000 in tax.
The Union Budget 2025 made no change to the Section 111A rate — it stays at 20% for any transfer on or after 23 July 2024, a rate the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2024 brought in, up from 15%. What did change under Budget 2025 is the new-regime basic exemption limit, now ₹4,00,000 for FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27), up from ₹3,00,000 the year before. That higher limit means more of your STCG can get shielded through the exemption set-off if your other income is low. The Income Tax Act, 2025 replaces the 1961 Act from 1 April 2026 onward, but for income earned up to 31 March 2026, you still file and calculate under the old Act — so this AY 2026-27 return uses Section 111A as written above.
Yes. Without STT paid on the sale, your gain doesn't qualify for the concessional rate at all. It gets taxed at your regular slab rate instead, treated as ordinary short-term capital gain outside Section 111A.
Yes. Short-term capital losses from any capital asset can offset STCG under Section 111A in the same year, or be carried forward for eight years if unused, provided you file your return on time.
Yes, that's the whole point of Section 111A — a flat rate regardless of whether you're in the 5% bracket or the 30% bracket. Only resident individuals get partial relief through the exemption set-off, not a slab-based reduction.
Only under the old tax regime. Senior citizens (60–80) get ₹3 lakh, and super seniors (above 80) get ₹5 lakh. Under the new regime, everyone gets a flat ₹4 lakh regardless of age.
No. The proviso allowing unused exemption limit to reduce taxable STCG applies only to resident individuals and HUFs. Non-residents pay 20% on the full gain, with no basic exemption adjustment.
Yes, if your total income crosses the surcharge threshold — currently ₹50 lakh and above, on a graded scale. This calculator doesn't include surcharge, so add it separately if your income is high.
Under Schedule CG, in ITR-2 or ITR-3 depending on whether you have business income. Report each transaction or a consolidated summary, and confirm STT was paid on the relevant field.
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