What is a qualified dividend?

A qualified dividend meets the holding-period test in Publication 550. The shares must be held for more than 60 days during the 121-day period that begins 60 days before the ex-dividend date. Form 1099-DIV reports the qualified amount in its own box. An ordinary dividend stays on the ordinary tax table. This page does not test your holding period. Use the amount in the qualified box when you fill the card.

Do capital gain distributions use this worksheet?

Capital gain distributions from a mutual fund or REIT are long-term capital gain for most filers. They belong with the net long-term gain, not with ordinary dividends. Form 1099-DIV reports them in the capital gain distribution box. Add that amount to your other long-term gain before you build the $22,000 style total. This card does not read a fund statement. You add the figure yourself.

Does Schedule D replace the worksheet?

No. Schedule D nets the sales. The worksheet, or the Schedule D Tax Worksheet, then applies the rates. You still complete Form 8949 and Schedule D when you have sales. The rate worksheet comes after those forms. A return with qualified dividends and no sales can reach the worksheet from Form 1040 without a Schedule D. Read the current instructions for the year you file.

Why is the dividend not typed as wages?

Wages are ordinary income. Qualified dividends are not. If you add the $4,000 to the $30,000 of taxable income, you tax that $4,000 on the ordinary table. The worksheet taxes it at 0%, 15%, or 20% together with the long-term gain. That is why the card uses $22,000 of long-term gain and leaves the $30,000 unchanged. The sale calculator has one gain box, so the combined figure is what you type.

Does this card include NIIT?

Yes, as a labelled line. NIIT is 3.8% of the smaller of net investment income and the amount of income over the threshold. The single threshold is $200,000. This filer has $30,000 plus $22,000, which is under $200,000, so the NIIT line is $0. A larger income can make the line greater than zero. The NIIT guide is the home for the other filing statuses. This card does not replace Form 8960.

What if I have a 28% rate gain?

Stop. This worksheet is the wrong form when you have a 28% rate gain or unrecaptured Section 1250 gain. The Schedule D Tax Worksheet applies instead. Collectibles and some depreciation on real estate create those gains. Do not force them into the $22,000 card. Finish Form 8949, then follow the instruction that names the other worksheet. This page does not fill that other worksheet.

Can I use the card for a joint return?

The method is the same. The ceilings are not. A joint return in 2026 has a 0% ceiling of $98,900 and a 15% ceiling of $613,700. Add the qualified dividends to the net long-term gain. Enter that sum as long-term gain. Keep taxable income before that sum as the other income. Do not reuse the single-filer dollar tax from this page. Run the joint numbers in the calculator.

Where do I check the form for my year?

Use the Form 1040 instructions for the year on the return. The printed line numbers move. The labels on this page do not depend on a line number. Match "qualified dividends plus net long-term gain" to the line the instructions describe for that year. The IRS page for the instructions is the source. This site does not store every past form.

Worksheet · beginner · 8 min

Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet (2026)

Updated 2026-10-12

Educational only. Not tax advice.

Short answer

The qualified dividends and capital gain tax worksheet taxes qualified dividends and long-term gain at 0%, 15%, or 20% in 2026. This card stacks $4,000 of qualified dividends with $18,000 of long-term gain. That is $22,000 at those rates, not at ordinary rates.

Key takeaways

Qualified dividends and long-term gain share the same three rates.
The card adds the $4,000 and the $18,000 and enters $22,000 as long-term gain.
Tax on that gain is $382.50. NIIT is $0.00.
Line numbers change by year. This page uses labels, not a form line number.
The sale calculator does not have a separate dividends box. You type the combined gain.

Before you start

Qualified dividends worksheet: The worksheet in the Form 1040 instructions applies the 0%, 15%, and 20% rates to qualified dividends and long-term capital gain.
Qualified dividend: A qualified dividend meets the holding-period test in Publication 550. It is reported on Form 1099-DIV. An ordinary dividend does not use these rates.
Stacked income: Your other taxable income fills the brackets first. The preferential income is taxed only in the room that is left.

What the worksheet does

The worksheet applies the long-term rates to two kinds of income that share those rates. One is a qualified dividend. The other is a net long-term capital gain. Ordinary dividends and short-term gains stay on the ordinary table.

The form instructions change the printed line numbers from year to year. This page does not copy those numbers. It uses the labels in the card below. Read the current Form 1040 instructions before you file.

A single filer in 2026 has a 0% ceiling of $49,450 and a 15% ceiling of $545,500. The rates guide is the home for the full table.

When Form 1040 sends you there

You use this worksheet when the return has qualified dividends or long-term gain, and it does not have 28% rate gain or unrecaptured Section 1250 gain. When either of those special gains is present, the Schedule D Tax Worksheet applies instead.

A return with only wages does not need the worksheet. A return with a qualified dividend on Form 1099-DIV does. A return with a long-term stock sale does too, unless the special worksheets take over.

The Form 8949 guide covers the sale lines. This page covers the rate math after those lines are known.

What to gather

Gather taxable income before this preferential income, the qualified dividend amount, and the net long-term gain. Taxable income is income after deductions. It is not wages by themselves.

Form 1099-DIV shows the dividend split. Form 1099-B or Form 1099-DA shows the sale. Schedule D shows the net long-term gain after losses.

This card does not ask for Form 4952 investment-interest expense. If that expense reduces your qualified dividends, subtract it before you use the card. The sale calculator cannot do that subtraction for you.

The worked card

The example is a single filer. Taxable income before this income is $30,000. Qualified dividends are $4,000. Net long-term gain is $18,000. Those two amounts share the 0%, 15%, and 20% rates, so the card enters $22,000 as long-term gain.

Putting the $4,000 into ordinary income would be the wrong bucket. The engine has no dividends box. The matching engine case is a $22,000 long-term stock gain on $30,000 of other taxable income.

Tax on that gain is $382.50. NIIT is $0.00. The total of those two lines is $382.50.

Labelled lines for the $22,000 card. Line numbers change by year.
Label	Amount
Taxable income before this income	$30,000.00
Qualified dividends plus net long-term gain	$22,000.00
Amount taxed at 0%	$19,450.00
Amount taxed at 15%	$2,550.00
Amount taxed at 20%	$0.00
Tax on that gain	$382.50
NIIT	$0.00

Common mistakes

The first mistake is taxing qualified dividends as ordinary income. They use the long-term rates when they are qualified.

The second is adding the dividend twice. If you already put the $4,000 inside the $22,000, do not also type $4,000 as extra ordinary income.

The third is using a form line number from an old year. Use the labels here, then match them to the year you are filing. A 2024 instruction booklet is not the line list for a 2026 return. The labels stay the same when the printed numbers move.

Try the same numbers in the calculator

Open the calculator. Choose 2026, single, and stocks. Set taxable income before the gain to $30,000. Set the buy price to $0 and the sell price to $22,000. Use a buy date of 15 January 2024 and a sell date of 15 June 2026 so the gain is long-term. Leave state blank if you want the federal lines only. Do not add the dividend a second time.

The federal tax on the gain should read $382.50. NIIT should read $0.00. The NIIT guide explains the $200,000 single threshold. This filer is under it.

Worked example

$3,082.50

Long-term federal tax on the gain. NIIT is $0.00.

Tax year 2026. Filing status single. Taxable income before the gain $30,000.
Stocks. Buy price $0. Sell price $22,000. Bought 15 January 2024. Sold 15 June 2026.

Enter these numbers