Selling stock falls into the category of capital gains tax. There are two types of capital gains tax: short-term and long-term. Short-term capital gains are sales of property (such as stock) which you have held for 1 year or less, and Long-term capital gains are on sales of property held for 1 year and 1 day or longer. Long-term capital gains are taxed more favorably than short-term gains. On a sale of a capital investment, you can also lose money, and you are allowed to claim an amount of loss if this is the case. Here are some examples:
You purchase 100 shares of XYZ on July 1, 2018. On July 1, 2019, you decided to sell 50 shares. The purchase price of the stock was $100/share, and you were able to sell the stocks at $150/share. Since you sold 50 shares, you had a short-term gain of $2500 (50 shares x $50 gain/share). Since you held the stocks for exactly one year, the gain is taxed as short-term. Short-term gains are taxed at the same rate as the tax bracket your income is in. For instance, if your income has taken you into the 22% tax bracket, these gains will also be taxed at 22%, unless the added income carries you into the next bracket, in which case you are taxed at 24%.
Let's say that 2 months later (September 1, 2019), you decide to sell the remaining shares. The price really took off, and you sold them at $200/share, for a $100/share profit and a total capital gain of $5000. This gain, however, is long-term. Long-term capital gain would not be taxed at 22% or 24%, but at 15%. And, if your income is in the 10% or 12% tax bracket, your long-term gain will be taxed at 0%. It is advantageous to hold capital assets long-term when possible.
Finally, let's say that in the same example above, instead of gaining money, the stock tanks. You purcased the 100 shares at $100/share, but in one year the stock becomes worthless, so you are forced to dump it. You have suffered a $10,000 loss. However, unless you have other capital gains, you cannot take the entire loss in one year. You are allowed to take $3,000 of capital loss (unless you are filing as Married Filing Separate, in which case you are allowed to claim $1500 of loss in one year), and then carry forward the remaining loss to future tax years. You will continue this process until you have other capital gains to claim against the loss or until you use the loss up.
For New York State, there is no special tax rate for capital gains. Rather, the additional income is taxed at your tax bracket rate. Loss is limited by the same Federal limits.
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