Tax-smart investment1

A comprehensive suite of strategies designed to help you reach your goals faster.

Harvest tax losses

When one of your holdings has decreased in value it can be sold at a loss. While no one like to see losses in an account, these losses can potentially be used to offset gains in either your managed account or elsewhere in your portfolio. Known as tax-loss harvesting, this strategy can be an effective way to temporarily defer taxes on your investments to a future year, allowing your money to stay invested and giving it greater potential to grow. In some cases, depending on your situation, you may be able to reduce or even eliminate these taxes.


At Fidelity, we believe that tax-loss harvesting is more than a year-end exercise, so we look for opportunities throughout the year, which has the potential to produce better long-term investment results for our clients.

The average client with a Personalized Portfolios account using tax-smart strategies could have saved $4,137 per year in taxes. The average account balance is $709,108. Please see footnote 2 for additional information.

†The average account balance is $709,108. Please see footnote 2 for additional information.

An illustrative example of how tax-loss harvesting works

In this chart, assume an individual realizes a long-term capital gain of $5,000 in Investment A, and a long-term capital loss of $4,000 in Investment B. If the individual has not realized the loss, he or she would incur $1,190 in federal capital gains tax (tax rate of 23.8%) on the realized gain from Investment A. By realizing the loss on Investment B, that loss can be used to offset the gain on Investment A. The individual's net long-term gain on the sale of Investment A and Investment B would be $1,000, and only $238 would be incurred in federal capital gains taxes.
$5,000 long-term gain from investment A plus ($4,000) long-term loss from investment B equals $1,000 net long-term gain and federal capital gains tax liability.

In this chart, assume an individual realizes a long-term capital gain of $5,000 in Investment A, and a long-term capital loss of $4,000 in Investment B. If the individual has not realized the loss, he or she would incur $1,190 in federal capital gains tax (tax rate of 23.8%) on the realized gain from Investment A. By realizing the loss on Investment B, that loss can be used to offset the gain on Investment A. The individual's net long-term gain on the sale of Investment A and Investment B would be $1,000, and only $238 would be incurred in federal capital gains taxes.

This illustration is for educational purposes only and is not intended to represent the performance of any security in Fidelity® Wealth Services.



Investing in this manner involves risk, including the risk of loss, and will not ensure a profit. This educational illustration assumes the investor met the holding requirement for long-term capital gains tax rates (longer than one year), the gains were taxed at the current maximum federal rate of 23.8%, and the loss was not disallowed for tax purposes due to a wash sale, related party sale, or other reason. It does not take into account state or local taxes, fees, or expenses, or the net gain's potential impact on adjusted gross income, which could impact exemption and deduction phaseouts and eligibility for other tax benefits.

Excess losses can help reduce next year's capital gains taxes

Tax-loss harvesting by the portfolio manager may also be used to reduce your future realized gains and tax liabilities by generating loss carryforwards. With this strategy, generally, excess capital losses can be used as loss carryforwards to offset capital gains and portions of ordinary income in future tax years. This is particularly useful during periods of market volatility because it can help you carry forward large losses to offset capital gains, and it may be used over multiple years.3