Latest news with #capitalgains
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Global Gains, Local Taxes: China Tightens Rules on Overseas Stock Profits
Mainland Chinese investors riding the U.S. bull marketfrom Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)are getting unexpected phone calls. Local tax authorities have started enforcing a long-ignored rule: a 20% levy on global capital gains and dividends. If you've spent more than 183 days a year in China, you're a tax residentand now, you're on the hook. The rule isn't new. But for years, Beijing looked the other way. That's changing fast. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with TSN. What's triggered the clampdown? For starters, China needs cash. The central government raised its 2024 budget deficit to the highest in over three decades. Meanwhile, U.S. markets have soaredup over 60% since early 2022making now a tempting time to reel in offshore profits. China has had access to overseas bank data since it joined the OECD's Common Reporting Standard in 2018. In Hong Kong, banks routinely report account details for clients flagged as Chinese tax residents. Until recently, that information sat quietly. Now, it's being put to work. But not all investors are affected equally. Those trading Hong Kong stocks via the Stock Connect program remain exempt from capital gains taxat least through 2027. Domestic trades are still tax-free too. That policy protects China's capital markets, even as the net tightens around overseas profits. For investors caught off guard, the sting is real. Unlike in the U.S., they can't offset past losses to reduce the bill. The message from Beijing is subtle but serious: if you've made money abroad, now's the time to settle up. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meet the boomer homeowners who are sitting on their valuable properties because of a tax they hope is on the way out
Some older homeowners are discouraged from selling by the capital gains tax. That reluctance to sell may be exacerbating a shortage of family-sized homes on the market. There's bipartisan support in DC for reforming or eliminating the tax to boost housing inventory. Joel Friedman, 71, wants nothing more than to sell the house he's called home for more than 30 years. The five-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot southern California home is too big for Friedman and his wife, Kathryn, who are retired empty-nesters. They're eager to downsize to a smaller, single-story house in a 55+ community where they won't have to worry about endless yard work and rising home maintenance costs. But the couple has delayed the move. That's because they don't want to pay the significant capital gains tax they'd incur if they sold their home. Since 1997, home sellers have faced a capital gains tax — up to 20% based on income — on home sales with profits over $500,000 for married couples and $250,000 for single filers. "There are a million reasons why we'd like to move, but we're not because the tax is just burdensome," Friedman said. The couple is relying on the profits from their future home sale to help fund their retirement. Friedman is concerned that his Social Security checks and his wife's pension won't be enough to cover healthcare bills and long-term care as they age. They're among a growing number of potential home sellers facing a hefty tax that's discouraging them from parting with their valuable properties. This has likely helped exacerbate a shortage of family-sized homes on the market. Many of those affected are older people who are looking to downsize but are relying on their homes to be their retirement nest eggs. There may be relief on the horizon — and it's a bipartisan effort. President Donald Trump recently said he's considering entirely eliminating the capital gains tax on home sales to help juice the housing market amid persistently high interest rates. "If the Fed would lower the rates, we wouldn't even have to do that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on July 22. "But we are thinking about no tax on capital gains on houses." Growing desperate to move, the Friedmans finally put their house on the market in May for nearly $4.5 million. But now that Trump and members of Congress are talking about eliminating the tax, they're letting their listing expire and hoping the law changes before they put it back up for sale. Are you an older American who has struggled to downsize your home or find retirement housing? Reach out to this reporter at erelman@ Safe-guarding their nest egg In part because home prices have soared in recent years, the share of home sales subject to the tax has more than doubled in the past few years. About 34% of America's homeowners — 29 million people — could exceed the $250,000 cap for single filers if they were to sell, and 10% could exceed the $500,000 threshold, the National Association of Realtors found in a 2025 report. In 2023, 8% of US sellers made more than $500,000 in profit on the sale of their homes, the property data firm CoreLogic found. That's up from 1.3% in 2003 and 3% in 2019. If the threshold had been adjusted for inflation when it was implemented, the $250,000 cutoff for individual home sellers in 1997 dollars would be about twice as high — $496,000 — in 2024 dollars. Some housing economists believe that increasing the threshold for the tax or eliminating the levy altogether could boost crucial housing inventory by incentivizing homeowners to sell. But others are skeptical that it would make much of a difference. "This doesn't necessarily lead to an increase in inventory; it just leads to a turnover in the housing market, more home sale activity," particularly in expensive markets in places like California and New York, said Selma Hepp, the chief economist at CoreLogic. The real-estate company Redfin reported that as of 2022, empty-nest boomers owned twice as many homes with three or more bedrooms as millennials with kids. Mary Ellen Taylor, 75, is one of those homeowners. She and her husband would like to downsize from their six-bedroom Washington, DC, home, but they're staying put in part because of the capital gains tax. Taylor, who worked for decades in housing finance regulation, argued that the policy incentivizes boomers like herself to hold onto their large homes, when they should be selling them to families. "With all the fuss that is made, rightly so, about the supply of housing, having tax incentives that run completely counter to what your public policy aims of increasing the supply of housing is silly," Taylor said. "I don't think you want a bunch of 75-year-olds occupying six-bedroom houses." A bipartisan issue with complicated impacts Two weeks before the president floated eliminating the tax on home sales, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced legislation seeking to do just that. Greene celebrated Trump's comments as an endorsement of her No Tax on Home Sales Act. There's also Democratic support for reforming the tax. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, a California Democrat whose district includes several pricey coastal regions, first introduced a bill in 2022 that would double the tax exclusion to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for joint-filing couples and index it to inflation. The More Homes on the Market Act, which has cosponsors across the aisle, aims to incentivize more homeowners to sell and boost housing inventory. Panetta said he's willing to work with Trump and Republicans on "a quick and rewarding way to incentivize people to sell their homes and keep intact their nest egg." "I just hope that the President is serious about doing something, and not just saying it, when it comes to a fix for the affordable housing issue," he said in a statement to Business Insider. As with any major policy change, there could be big unintended consequences down the road. Hepp warned that sellers who walk away with extra cash in hand would then have more money to spend on their next home, which could put upward pressure on home prices. In a CNBC interview, Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather argued that changing the tax could perversely incentivize some homeowners who'd been planning to sell before reaching the current tax threshold to hold onto their homes for longer. Even if the tax break stimulates home sales, it won't address the fundamental shortage of housing across the country. Older homeowners who finally sell their homes and move still need to live somewhere. "We're still stuck with this problem of lack of housing in the US and I think that's the problem that should be tackled. How do we build more, less expensively and more quickly?" Hepp said. Reducing the capital gains burden would also disproportionately benefit higher-income Americans, even as many of these same households receive other forms of tax relief under Trump's "one big beautiful bill." As part of that law, many wealthy homeowners in high-tax states will benefit from an increase to the cap on the state and local tax deduction. Eliminating the tax on home sales would also cost the federal government in lost revenue at a time when Republicans are adding at least $3.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Despite her support for reform, Taylor believes the tax code is "wildly to the benefit of more affluent people," and worries that eliminating the capital gains tax could further skew the US tax code in favor of wealthier people. David Levin, 71, agrees that reforming the tax would benefit lucky homeowners like himself who've seen their home equity soar over decades of appreciation. The couple bought their four-bedroom Manhattan Beach house for $632,000 in 1991, and it's now worth an estimated $2.8 million, according to a local real-estate agent Levin consulted. While they're ready to sell and downsize, with the capital gains tax they'd face under current law, Levin says they wouldn't make enough profit on their home sale to buy a new place. Even a much smaller home in the coastal California city would be out of budget, he said. "The way the law stands today, we're staying put in a home bigger than we need," Levin said. Read the original article on Business Insider Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Eliminating capital gains on home sales would be a boon for older homeowners in high-cost states
President Trump recently said his administration was 'thinking about' removing capital gains taxes on home sales to help jump-start the sluggish housing market. The biggest beneficiaries of such a change will likely be longtime homeowners in the country's more expensive housing markets. Removing or increasing the capital gains limit — currently $250,000 for single homeowners or $500,000 for married couples — on home sales has been a longtime priority for the real estate industry, which argues that steep tax bills are keeping some homeowners who wish to relocate or downsize stuck in homes that no longer fit their needs. Read more: Capital gains in real estate: How much you'll pay when you sell your home Take the case of a homeowner in San Francisco, where home prices have more than tripled between 2000 and 2025 to a median price of about $1 million today. A homeowner who purchased in 2000 for $300,000 might have $700,000 of gains if they sell now. Depending on their tax filing status, between $200,000 and $450,000 of those gains could be taxable at rates between 15% and 20%. Under any scenario, their tax bill would be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Those owners are getting more attention in today's market because for-sale inventory is constrained in many parts of the country, pushing home prices to record highs. It's unclear exactly how much helping wealthier homeowners would enliven a sedate market. While it could unlock more inventory, some experts say it could worsen the affordability problem. Any changes to the capital gains limit would require congressional approval. Trump's comments came earlier this week in response to a question from Brian Glenn, a reporter for the conservative network Real America's Voice and boyfriend of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia Republican recently introduced 'The No Tax on Home Sales Act' to eliminate the taxes. Sign up for the Mind Your Money weekly newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's 條款 and 私隱政策 Around 10% of homeowners nationally have enough equity to surpass the $500,000 limit for couples, according to the National Association of Realtors, which has advocated for reconsidering the caps. In states where home prices have risen rapidly and homes are more expensive, the share can be far higher. Alex Caswell, founder of Wealth Script Advisors in San Francisco, works primarily with clients in California and New York, many of whom have to consider capital gains taxes in their housing decisions. 'This will primarily affect people in affluent towns and those who have owned their homes for a long time,' Caswell said. 'We have experienced a significant price increase since the lows of 2008, so anyone who bought after that period stands to benefit significantly.' He thinks buying and selling activity could tick up in those states if the bill were to pass, but he worries the dynamics could also mean more older homeowners with lots of purchasing power would be competing with first-time homebuyers for smaller, cheaper homes. Read more: How to buy a house in today's market Though just a small percentage of home sales exceed the limit, the number has been growing in recent years thanks to unprecedented home price appreciation during the pandemic. In 2023, 7.9% of home sales triggered capital gains above $500,000, up from around 3% between 2017 and 2019, according to real estate data provider Cotality. In California, nearly 30% of home sales exceeded the $500,000 gains threshold in recent years, along with 24% in Hawaii and 22% in Washington, D.C. 'The current exclusion on $500,000 for a couple is totally inadequate, and that is a real problem,' said John Power, a financial planner at Power Plans in Walpole, Mass. In Massachusetts, 18% of home sales exceeded that cap in 2023. 'You don't have to be rich to have a $1 million home these days in much of the Northeast or Pacific Coast,' he said. Still, in 18 states tracked by Cotality, less than 5% of home sellers run up against the higher capital gains exceptions. No matter where they're located, homeowners who have been in their homes for decades and have had the longest time to build equity are most likely to be affected. The Budget Lab at Yale calculated that in 2022, the average homeowner above the exemption was nearly 65 years old, with a net worth of $5.7 million and a home valued at $1.4 million. While Trump and Taylor Greene have floated eliminating the tax altogether, other advocates have argued for raising the limits. The current caps have been in place since 1997, meaning they haven't kept up with inflation. If they were tied to inflation, they would be just over double current levels, at $506,000 for single filers or $1.13 million for married filers, according to an analysis from Laura Lynch, owner of the Tiny House Adviser in Abiquiu, N.M., previously worked in Florida, where she commonly ran into cases where clients were close to or over the exclusion limits. She said it could be particularly problematic in divorce cases, where one party might receive a home in the settlement and then be subject to the lower $250,000 cap for single filers. Today, she specializes in clients interested in downsizing and tiny home living. She counsels clients facing a big tax bill from a sale that it may be best to pay it and move on if moving to a smaller, cheaper home means they can avoid taking out high-interest home equity loans or lines of credit in the future. 'I advise people to be aware that the only fee-[free] and interest-free way to use home equity is to downsize,' Lynch said. 'Those living on small incomes in retirement are often in a low capital gains bracket, and even max capital gains is far less than ordinary income.' Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The sneaky way Anthony Albanese will turn Australia into a high-taxing European nation with new super tax
Anthony Albanese risks turning Australia into a high-taxing European nation with his plan for a radical new tax on superannuation savings, an investment group warns. The federal government wants to impose a new 15 per cent tax on unrealised gains on super balances above $3million, where capital growth would be taxed before assets are sold. Wilson Asset Management chairman Geoff Wilson said this departure from taxing capital gains after assets are sold would see Australia share a similarity with European nations, which are renowned for their high taxes and targeting the rich. 'Australia is proving to be no different from Norway, Spain and Sweden, where taxing unrealised gains led to capital exodus and therefore lower than expected tax revenue,' he said. In 2023, the Labor government announced that from July 1, 2025, 0.5 per cent, or 80,000, of super balances with more than $3million would be hit with a new 15 per cent tax on unrealised gains. This would be in addition to the 15 per cent tax on earnings that already exists for all super during the accumulation or working phase. The debut of a new tax on unrealised gains also marks the biggest change to the capital gains tax since it was introduced in Australia in 1985. Previously, European nations have been the main enthusiasts for taxing the notional or paper value of assets, based on gains during a financial year. Norway applies a 38 per cent unrealised gains tax on the wealth of those who leave. Sweden does a similar thing, but with a 30 per cent exit tax on unrealised gains. Spain also has an exit tax, based on unrealised gains, if someone with a large investment portfolio leaves the country to become a tax resident elsewhere. Germany during the 1970s and 1980s taxed unrealised gains on wealth, but the policy was notoriously difficult to administer. France still has a wealth tax that applies on assets worth more than €1.3million (AU$2.1million) of real estate assets, but it stops short of taxing unrealised gains. Other European nations, renowned for having higher income taxes to fund more services, do not touch retirement savings in the way Labor is proposing to do. US Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris last year campaigned to tax unrealised gains on wealth - but only for the ultra rich with assets worth US$100million (AU$152million) or more. Australia would be the first to apply an unrealised gains tax to superannuation, in a bid to raise $2.3billion a year in Budget revenue. Left-leaning crossbench senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie last year declined to back Labor's Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions bill, because they are opposed to taxing unrealised gains. The Greens back taxing unrealised gains but want the threshold reduced to $2million, but indexed to inflation. They hold the balance of power in the Senate, and Labor is still negotiating amendments with the minor party. The government has previously flagged giving Australians a year's notice from the time legislation is passed, with Mr Wilson noting panic selling was already occurring in self-managed super funds to avoid the potential new tax. 'Despite requiring Senate approval, the proposed tax on unrealised gains has already prompted a rush to liquidate assets ahead of the 30 June 2026 implementation date,' he said. Wilson Asset Management has proposed an alternative super tax strategy to Labor's plan to tax unrealised gains, in a submission to the government's Economic Reform Roundtable, where it argued it would raise $2.433billion in revenue. 'The outcome of the proposal would allow the government to increase tax revenue from high balance accounts without breaching the realisation principle of the tax act,' Mr Wilson said. 'Our proposal is in the national interest and a Budget-positive alternative to the government's proposed policy to tax unrealised gains in superannuation.' He proposes to keep the existing structure of taxing realised capital gains, but adding a new 15 per cent tax to balances of $3million to $6million. A 17.5 per cent tax would apply for balances of $6million to $10million, rising to 20 per cent for balances of $10million to $20million and 25 per cent for balances above $20million.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Is it time to say goodbye to capital gains taxes on your home?
NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - This was originally published in the On The Money newsletter, where we share U.S. personal finance tips and insights every other week. Sign up here to receive it for free. Is it time to say goodbye to capital gains taxes on your home? The biggest personal finance story (in my humble opinion!) this week is news that President Donald Trump is considering removing capital gains taxes on home sales. "If the Fed would lower the rates, we wouldn't even have to do that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "But we are thinking about no tax on capital gains on houses." Under current law, homeowners can exclude up to $250,000 (single filers) or $500,000 (joint filers) in gains from the sale of a primary residence. These thresholds haven't changed since 1997, opens new tab! A National Association of Realtors study, opens new tab found that 34% of homeowners (29 million) could already have enough equity in their homes to exceed the $250,000 cap, and more than 10% (8 million) could have enough to surpass the $500,000 threshold. Congress recently passed legislation that made permanent broad tax cuts passed in 2017 during Trump's first presidency. The bill also fulfilled Trump's campaign promises to include new tax breaks for tips, overtime pay, seniors and auto loans. Here is a look at who could gain, opens new tab from an end to capital gains taxes on home sales. What do you think about eliminating capital gains taxes on your home? Would you be more likely to sell your home? Write to me, and let me know your thoughts. Have you noticed lower prices at the pump lately? U.S. gasoline prices could fall below $3 a gallon this summer for the first time in over four years as a stretch of bad weather dampens fuel demand and a jump in imports fills inventories. Gasoline prices are in a lull, a boon for Americans traveling this summer. Consumers endured record prices at the pumps after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine upended energy markets. Summer is typically the peak season for gasoline consumption in the U.S., but demand is lower this year. More fuel-efficient vehicles on the road and post-pandemic changes in driving patterns – particularly remote work – are expected to permanently reduce U.S. gasoline consumption from its peak in 2018. How will lower gas prices impact your driving habits? Coke's shift to cane sugar would be expensive, hurt US farmers Goldman, BNY team up to launch tokens tied to money market funds Trump executive order to help open up 401(k)s to private markets, opens new tab Delta plans to use AI in ticket pricing draws fire from US lawmakers Luxury heavyweights struggle to shake off shopper fatigue What is behind the latest rally in meme stocks? How Americans handle late-career layoffs, opens new tab Preserve capital, don't swing for the fences, portfolio manager says Big Alcohol prepares to fight back as buzzy cannabis drinks steal sales ARE YOU HOLDING TOO MUCH TECH? Is your portfolio bursting with technology stocks? Equity investors are probably overweighted in technology, given the strong performance run of the past two years. Indeed, the stocks that comprise the Magnificent Seven are up almost 25% in the past year vs. 17% for the Nasdaq Composite index. More recently, the performance of the Magnificent Seven (which includes Google and Tesla) is mixed. But they have all rebounded since April from a selloff following Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping global tariffs. The group amounted to one-third of the weight of the S&P 500 as of Friday, due to their massive market caps, their largest combined presence since the start of the year, according to LSEG Datastream. My retirement portfolio is invested in target-date funds, which are rebalanced on a regular basis, so the tech position is about 24%, which is slightly below its average peers. Are you overloaded in tech right now or have you adjusted your portfolio in recent weeks? Let me know your thoughts on the Magnificent Seven or the broader tech sector!
