Guest mode: your portfolio is kept in this browser until you connect.

Sys onlineGuest--:-- local

Is your loss a wash sale, across every account?

Enter the sale at a loss, then every purchase of it in your other accounts: another broker, your IRA, your 401(k), your spouse’s. See what the rule takes, what comes back later, and the first day to buy back.

  • every account, IRA included
  • runs in your browser
  • no account
sample case · type yours over it3 purchases

The sale at a loss, in a taxable account

Loss−$1,500.00

Other buys of it, in any account

From Oct 21, 2026 to Dec 20, 2026 they count. Leave out the shares this sale sells; add automatic buys and reinvested dividends.

the read61-day window · Oct 21, 2026 → Dec 20, 2026

$450of your $1,500 loss is a wash sale.

deductible for 2026
$1,050.00
comes back later
$250.00
in shares held
gone for good
$200.00
bought in an IRA

Up to $950.00 if the IRS counted another fund on the same index as identical. It has never said either way.

Oct 21, 2026sale · Nov 20, 2026Dec 20, 2026
  • Oct 1, 20262 sh · IRA / Rothoutside the window—
  • Nov 1, 20262 sh · IRA / Rothgone for good$100.00
  • Nov 5, 20265 sh · spouse, taxableadded to their cost, now $3,325.00$250.00
  • Nov 24, 202610 sh · taxable · same indexif the IRS calls it identicalup to $500.00
  • Dec 1, 20262 sh · IRA / Rothgone for good$100.00
Buy VOO back from Mon, Dec 21, 2026, the first NYSE trading day after the window, and this loss stays yours.
This is a sample case with illustrative prices. Type your own on the left: nothing leaves this browser.
One sale here. Every loss you can still take before Dec. 31, 2026, in the terminal.Import your brokers’ histories and the terminal lists each holding below what it cost, by account and by term, with any purchase of it in the last 30 days flagged, and the year netted the way Schedule D nets it.Which ETF swaps track closestImport my accounts, free

The rule, with the 2026 dates

checked against the sources named

  1. A sale at a loss on Thursday, Dec 31, 2026, the last NYSE trading day of 2026, counts on the 2026 return: the year is set by the trade date, not the settlement date.IRS Publication 550, “Securities traded on an established market”; NYSE holiday calendar
  2. That sale is a wash sale if the same security is bought in any of your accounts, or your spouse's, from Tuesday, Dec 1, 2026, through Saturday, Jan 30, 2027. The first trading day to buy it back without one is Monday, Feb 1, 2027.IRC §1091(a); IRS Publication 550, “Wash Sales”
  3. Your broker applies the rule on Form 1099-B only when the purchase is in the same account and the security is identical. A buy at another broker, in an IRA or in a spouse’s account is yours to find and report (Form 8949, code W).IRC §6045(g)(2)(B)(ii); Instructions for Form 8949
  4. A replacement bought in an IRA or a Roth IRA makes the loss permanent: it is not added to the IRA’s cost. Bought in a taxable account, the loss is only postponed, added to the cost of the new shares.IRS Publication 550, “Wash Sales”; Rev. Rul. 2008-5; IRC §1091(d)
  5. A loss that survives the rule offsets capital gains first, then up to $3,000 of ordinary income ($1,500 if married filing separately); the rest carries forward to the next year.IRC §1211(b), §1212(b)

How to read it

Comes back laterbought in a taxable account
The loss is added to the cost of the shares you bought, and their holding period starts where the sold shares’ ended. You get it when you sell them.
Gone for goodbought in an IRA or Roth IRA
Nothing is added anywhere: the loss is simply refused (Rev. Rul. 2008-5).
Up tosame index, or a 401(k)
Counted only as a second reading. The IRS has not ruled on two funds of one index, nor on workplace plans.

What it leaves out

Matching follows Publication 550: the shares bought in the window, first bought first, against the shares sold, each share used once. It checks one sale at a time: two sales of the same security in one window share the purchases between them, in the order of the sales.

Not covered: options and contracts to buy, short sales, shares received as pay, specific identification of lots, state taxes. A calculation from the published rules, not tax advice.

Questions

Does buying in my IRA or Roth IRA make my taxable loss a wash sale?

Yes. Publication 550 lists buying substantially identical stock for your IRA or Roth IRA within 30 days before or after the sale as a wash sale, and Rev. Rul. 2008-5 adds that the loss is not added to the IRA’s cost: it is gone for good, where a wash sale in a taxable account only postpones it. An automatic monthly buy or a reinvested dividend inside the IRA counts like any other purchase.

Does my broker catch wash sales across accounts?

Only inside one account. The law asks brokers to apply the wash-sale rule on Form 1099-B when the sale and the purchase are in the same account and the securities are identical (IRC §6045(g)(2)(B)(ii)). A purchase at another broker, in your IRA or in your spouse’s account does not show on the form: you adjust it yourself on Form 8949 with code W.

When can I buy back after selling at a loss on Dec. 31, 2026?

Purchases from Tuesday, Dec 1, 2026, through Saturday, Jan 30, 2027, catch that loss, in any of your accounts or your spouse’s. The first trading day you can buy the same security back without a wash sale is Monday, Feb 1, 2027. A buy back in January still takes the loss off the 2026 return.

Are VOO and IVV substantially identical?

Nobody can tell you for sure: the IRS has never ruled on two funds from different issuers that track the same index, and Publication 550 says to weigh all the facts and circumstances of your case. The checker shows the result both ways, so you see what is at stake before you pick a replacement.

Does a 401(k) purchase cause a wash sale?

The IRS has not said. Rev. Rul. 2008-5 covers IRAs and Roth IRAs only. A 401(k) often holds a collective trust or an institutional share class rather than the fund you sold, which raises the substantially-identical question as well. The checker counts a workplace-plan purchase only in its second reading, labeled as such.

Do reinvested dividends cause a wash sale?

Yes: a reinvested dividend is a purchase. It only takes its share of the loss, by shares: 0.4 share reinvested after a 40-share sale takes 1% of the loss. Turning reinvestment off for the 30 days on each side of the sale avoids it.

Is a wash-sale loss lost forever?

Not when the replacement is in a taxable account: the loss is added to the cost of the shares you bought, and the holding period of the shares you sold carries over to them, so the loss comes back when you sell those. It is lost for good only when the replacement was bought in an IRA or a Roth IRA.

Sources: IRS Publication 550 (2025), IRC §1091, §1211, §1212 and §6045(g), Rev. Rul. 2008-5, Treas. Reg. §1.1091-1, Instructions for Form 8949, NYSE holiday calendar. A calculation tool, not tax advice.