Find short-term capital gains tax on listed shares or equity mutual funds.
A flat 20% rate applies under Section 111A to equity held 12 months or less, where STT was paid — regardless of your income tax slab.
STCG tax: Gain × 20%
Short-term capital gains on equity arise when you sell listed shares or equity mutual fund units within twelve months of buying them. These gains are taxed at a flat rate, not at your slab rate. This calculator applies that flat 20% rate to your gain and shows the tax and what remains.
It is aimed at active investors and traders who book profits within the year, and at people who had to redeem an equity fund early for an emergency. A trader in Mumbai who sold shares bought eight months ago wants to know the tax before placing the next trade. The calculator answers: how much tax do I owe on this short-term equity gain?
1. Confirm the asset is listed equity or an equity-oriented fund on which securities transaction tax was paid.
2. Confirm the holding period is twelve months or less.
3. Compute the gain: sale price − purchase price − allowed expenses.
4. Tax = gain × 20%.
5. Gain after tax = gain − tax.
6. Add 4% cess, and surcharge if your income is high, when you prepare the return.
Short-term equity gains are taxed at a special rate, 20% for transfers from 23 July 2024 as the site's configuration records. This rate does not depend on your other income. Someone in the 30% slab pays 20% on these gains, and someone in the 5% slab also pays 20%. There is one nuance: if your other income is below the basic exemption limit, the unused part of that limit can be used to reduce taxable short-term gains, for resident individuals.
Selling within twelve months turns a gain into short-term, with a higher rate and no yearly exemption. Waiting past twelve months would bring the gain into the long-term regime at 12.5%, with ₹1,25,000 exempt each year. For a large gain close to the twelve-month mark, waiting a few weeks can cut the tax sharply. This is a real planning lever, but it has to be weighed against the market risk of holding longer.
This calculator is only for equity where the transaction tax is paid. Short-term gains on property, gold, unlisted shares and most debt instruments are added to your total income and taxed at your slab rate. So a short-term gain on gold can be taxed at 30% for a high earner, well above the 20% equity rate. Use this page for shares and equity funds, and treat other short-term gains as ordinary income.
Rohan, a part-time trader in Mumbai, sold shares he had bought eight months earlier and made a short-term gain of ₹85,000.
Answer: STCG tax (20%) ₹17,000; Net gain after tax ₹68,000
Applying the ₹1,25,000 long-term exemption to short-term gains.
Taxing short-term equity gains at the slab rate instead of the flat rate.
Using this flat rate for short-term gains on gold or property.
Counting the holding period from the order date rather than the actual purchase and sale dates.
Treating intraday trading profit as capital gain, when it is usually taxed as business income.
Estimating tax before booking short-term profits.
Deciding whether to wait until a holding turns long-term.
Setting aside advance tax for trading profits.
Preparing the short-term capital gains schedule of the return.
What about short-term gains on property or gold?
Those follow a completely different rule. Short-term gains on things like property or gold are added to your total income, and taxed at your normal income tax rate — not a fixed percentage.