Lost all my capital gains since January - can I avoid/reduce taxes on my December 31st gains?

12 This really sucks to hear. So there's absolutely no way to offset those 2025 gains with my 2026 losses? What if I'm in a higher tax bracket now because of those gains? Seems so unfair that I have to pay taxes on money I technically don't have anymore.

8 You're right that it can feel unfair, but the tax code is pretty strict about the calendar year boundary. Each tax year stands on its own. If you made $52k in 2025, those gains are taxable in 2025 regardless of what happens in 2026. Regarding tax brackets, capital gains have their own tax rates (0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your income), rather than being taxed at ordinary income rates. But yes, those gains could push your other income into higher brackets or affect other income-based calculations on your tax return.

3 How does taxr.ai actually work? Do they just give you advice or do they file your taxes too? I'm wondering if it would be useful for someone who doesn't have a ton of investments but still got burned by the market.

16 Is it legit though? I've tried a bunch of tax services that claim they can help with investment losses and they usually just tell me what I already know - that I'm screwed until next year's taxes.

4 They analyze your financial documents and tax situation to identify potential tax savings - they helped me find deductible expenses and tax strategies I wouldn't have known about. They don't file your taxes for you, but they provide detailed recommendations you can use yourself or give to your tax preparer. It's definitely legit. I was skeptical too at first, but they found several legitimate strategies that my previous tax guy missed. They showed me how to properly document my home office deduction and identified business expenses from my side gig that I hadn't been claiming. They're not magicians, but they did save me a fair amount on my tax bill.

7 How does this even work? I don't understand how they can get you to the front of the IRS queue when everyone else is waiting for hours. Sounds too good to be true.

21 No way this actually works. The IRS is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to reach. Last time I tried I literally gave up after being on hold for 2+ hours. I'll believe it when I see it.

19 They don't get you to the front of the queue - their system waits in the IRS hold queue for you. They have technology that monitors the hold music and when a human agent finally picks up, their system immediately calls you and connects you with the agent. So you're still "waiting" the same amount of time, but you're not personally sitting there listening to hold music for hours. It definitely works! I was connected with an IRS agent within about 3 hours of submitting my request. The difference is I was doing other things during those 3 hours instead of being stuck on the phone.

14 You could potentially increase traditional IRA or 401k contributions if you haven't maxed them out yet. That won't directly offset the capital gains taxes, but it would lower your overall taxable income which could help somewhat. Also, if you have any investments currently at a loss that you were planning to sell anyway, you could realize those losses before the end of 2025 to offset some of the gains. Just be careful about wash sale rules if you plan to rebuy similar securities.

5 These are great suggestions. I didn't think about maxing out retirement accounts! I haven't contributed much to my 401k this year so I could definitely increase that. How would I know if I have any investments at a loss that I could sell? Would I just look at my current portfolio and check what's down from my purchase price?

14 Yes, exactly! Just look at your current portfolio and identify any investments that are currently valued lower than what you paid for them. Those are your potential tax-loss harvesting opportunities. Your brokerage should show your cost basis and current value for each position. Remember that if you sell something at a loss and buy the same or a "substantially identical" security within 30 days before or after the sale, that's considered a wash sale and you can't claim the tax loss. You can buy something similar but not identical to maintain market exposure while still harvesting the tax loss.

9 I talked to my Fidelity advisor about almost this exact same situation last year. They basically confirmed what everyone here is saying - you're stuck with the tax bill for the year the gains were realized, but they did help me put together a tax-loss harvesting strategy for the following year to minimize the ongoing impact. Depending on your broker, they might offer free consultations that could be helpful.