How do I avoid paying taxes on mutual funds?
Buy mutual fund shares through your traditional IRA or Roth IRA. If you put money in a traditional IRA, your investments grow tax-deferred; you're not taxed until you withdraw money.
By implementing tax harvesting, you can strategically manage your equity mutual fund holdings to keep long-term returns below the Rs. 1 lakh threshold, thus avoiding long-term capital gains tax upon redemption.
Hold Funds in a Retirement Account
This means you can sell shares of your mutual fund or collect a capital gains distribution without paying the relevant taxes so long as you keep the money in that retirement account.
Reinvest in new property
The like-kind (aka "1031") exchange is a popular way to bypass capital gains taxes on investment property sales. With this transaction, you sell an investment property and buy another one of similar value.
You can trade mutual funds within your Roth IRA (or traditional IRA) without tax consequences. If you plan to sell a mutual fund in a Roth IRA and withdraw the money, you won't owe any tax as long as you meet the criteria for a qualified distribution.
Mutual funds are not tax-free except for ELSS (equity-linked savings schemes or tax-saving funds) and some retirement funds. As per the Income Tax Act, under Section 80C, you can claim a deduction of up to Rs. 1.5 lakh for investments made in ELSS and can save taxes up to Rs. 46,800.
The tax rate (and in turn the tax on mutual funds) depends on the type of distribution and other factors. That means you may owe tax on mutual funds you've invested in — even if you haven't sold any of the shares or received any cash from your investments.
Short-term capital gains (assets held 12 months or less) are taxed at your ordinary income tax rate, whereas long-term capital gains (assets held for more than 12 months) are currently subject to federal capital gains tax at a rate of up to 20%.
Mutual funds are not taxed twice. However, some investors may mistakenly pay taxes twice on some distributions. For example, if a mutual fund reinvests dividends into the fund, an investor still needs to pay taxes on those dividends.
You may have to pay capital gains tax on stocks sold for a profit. Any profit you make from selling a stock is taxable at either 0%, 15% or 20% if you held the shares for more than a year. If you held the shares for a year or less, you'll be taxed at your ordinary tax rate.
At what age do you not pay capital gains?
Since the tax break for over 55s selling property was dropped in 1997, there is no capital gains tax exemption for seniors. This means right now, the law doesn't allow for any exemptions based on your age. Whether you're 65 or 95, seniors must pay capital gains tax where it's due.
Bottom Line. The IRS allows no specific tax exemptions for senior citizens, either when it comes to income or capital gains.
Here's how it works: Taxpayers can claim a full capital gains tax exemption for their principal place of residence (PPOR). They also can claim this exemption for up to six years if they moved out of their PPOR and then rented it out.
Active trading by individuals or by mutual funds, if successful, tends to be less tax-efficient and better suited for tax-advantaged accounts.
Like income from the sale of any other investment, if you have owned the mutual fund shares for a year or more, any profit or loss generated by the sale of those shares is taxed as long-term capital gains. Otherwise, it is considered ordinary income.
Use lines 131 and 132 of Schedule 3, Capital Gains (or Losses), to calculate and report all your capital gains and capital losses from your mutual fund units and shares. List the information for each mutual fund separately. Multiple redemptions from the same fund in the same year should be grouped together.
If you hold shares in a taxable account, you are required to pay taxes on mutual fund distributions, whether the distributions are paid out in cash or reinvested in additional shares. The funds report distributions to shareholders on IRS Form 1099-DIV after the end of each calendar year.
An ELSS is a mutual fund class that offers tax deductions under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. To check if a fund is an ELSS or not, you need to check for its details on the fund house's website. If you are investing via a third party, the same information will also be available on their website.
| Name of the fund | 10-year returns (in %) | Investment tenure (in years) |
|---|---|---|
| Sundaram ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 17.20 | 10 |
| ICICI Prudential ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 16.87 | 10 |
| HDFC ELSS Tax saver | 16.60 | 10 |
| Source: AMFI (As of March 25, 2024) | ||
Dividends from ELSS funds are tax-free during the investment period. g. Profits from sale of ELSS fund units are considered long-term capital gains and hence, are tax free. The best way of investing into ELSS funds is through monthly SIPs (systematic investment plan).
Is there a penalty for selling mutual funds?
Some mutual funds charge fees if you decide to sell your shares. For instance, you're responsible for a percentage of the total amount of shares you're selling. This is known as a back-end load fee. Often a flat fee, the back-end load tends to decrease over time.
Report the amount shown in box 2a of Form 1099-DIV on line 13 of Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses. If you have no requirement to use Schedule D (Form 1040), report this amount on line 7 of Form 1040, U.S. Individual Tax Return or Form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors and check the box.
Mutual funds are liquid assets, and as long as you invest in open-end schemes, be they equity or debt, it's easy to withdraw your investments at any time.
Some investors also may consider selling fund shares before a distribution to avoid the tax due. If the investor had gains on the shares at the time of the sale, the realized gains would be taxable in the year the shares were sold.
Long-term capital gains tax on equities funds is 10% plus 4% cess if the gain in a fiscal year exceeds Rs 1 lakh. Long-term capital gains to Rs. 1 lakh are tax-free.
