How much tax do I pay for selling land in North Carolina?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
June 17, 2025
2 replies
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If I sell a lot I own in Chapel Hill NC for $300,000. How much capital gains tax do I pay?

Bsch4477

Level 15

For North Carolina you pay 4.6% of the net gain on the sale plus a transfer tax of .2%. If long term you will pay a federal capital gain depending on your taxable income but usually 15%.

tomodwyer2005Author

Level 2

Hello,

If my income before selling the lot is less than $47k, isn't there a lower % for me to pay?

Ty for responding.

Opus 17

Level 15

@tomodwyer2005 wrote:

Hello,

If my income before selling the lot is less than $47k, isn't there a lower % for me to pay?

Ty for responding.

The capital gains stacks on top of the rest of your income.

For 2025, suppose you are single. The federal standard deduction is $15,000 and the 12% (regular) tax bracket goes up to $48,475. Suppose you have $30,000 of other taxable income. That's $15,000 subject to tax after the standard deduction. That means that the first part of the capital gains ($48,475 minus $15,000 = $33,475) will be in the zero percent (federal) tax bracket as long as this is a long term capital gain (property held more than one year). Gain that is more than $33,475 will be taxed at 15%.

In other words, the capital gains rate is determined by your total income including the gains, and not just your income without the gains.

I don't know the rules for North Carolina but @Bsch4477 did not indicate there was a threshold, so probably the entire gain is subject to North Carolina tax.

Opus 17

Level 15

You don't say what your gain is. Your gain is the difference between your cost basis and the selling price. Cost basis is what you originally paid, plus the cost of any permanent investments you made in the land (such as installing utility connections). You can also include certain legal fees that might be required when you purchased the land. See basis of assets,

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc703

If the land was a gift or inherited, your basis is more complicated to figure out.

Then, federal capital gains tax rates are 15% or 20%, depending on your other income. The capital gain could be subject to an additional 3.9% net investment tax, depending on your other income. I will take the other expert's word for the NC state income tax.