But the loss won’t provide you any tax benefit unless you actually realize enough capital gains for you to be over the 0% capital gains tax bracket.
Not necessarily - at least not this year, if you want to realize any benefit from your capital loss.
IIRC, you are both over 65. So in 2025 your standard deduction is the MFJ standard deduction of $30k plus an additional $1.6k each for being over 65, for a total of $33,200
As already mentioned, the MFJ capital gains 0% bracket for 2025 is $96,700. So you can have total income (ordinary income plus capital gains) up to $129,900 and not be taxed on any capital gains.
Unless your total income is more than $129,900, your capital loss is just going to offset capital gains that would already be taxed at 0%.
So, this year, with a $43k loss, to be offset, realizing enough capital gains to bring your total taxable income up to $129,900 + $43k, or $172,900 and you will still be taxed 0% on your capital gains.
If you only realize enough capital gains so that your taxable income is $169,900, then $3k of your ordinary income will be offset by the capital loss.
Now, this gets trickier because, IIRC, your other income is SS income, which is not fully taxable. So it’s not as simple as subtracting all your other income from $169,900 and aiming to realize that amount of capital gains. At this income level, 85% of your SS income will be taxable, so you would subtract 85% of your total SS income, plus any other income (interest, dividends, etc.) from $169,900 to get what your goal for realized capital gains is for this year. Then you would need to sell enough stocks to realize that amount of capital gains. Since you will be realizing gains, there’s no restrictions on buying the stock back immediately, so you can basically reset your cost basis. This will help you minimize capital gains in future years.
If you don’t understand these calculations enough to make them yourself, for your particular situation, you really need to consult a tax professional. I know you fired your CPA because you didn’t think you were getting any benefit from using him, but this type of situation is precisely what a CPA would help you with.
If you just go with your strategy of minimizing capital gains, you will be foregoing over $6k in tax benefits that you could realize unless your total taxable income with the minimum capital gains you realize is over $169,900.
Edited to add:
I will also point out that if all of your ordinary income is taxed in the 10% or 12% bracket, it would actually be more beneficial to offset capital gains in the 15% bracket, rather than use $3k of the loss to offset ordinary income. If that’s the case, then you should use $172,900 instead of $169,900 when calculating the amount of capital gains to realize.
I will also point out that the capital gains you realize in this strategy can be either short-term or long-term, because the loss will offset both type of capital gains.
AJ