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Tax Guide 7 min read

LTCG Tax Calculator for FY 2026-27:
How to Calculate Your Exact Tax

Financial Year 2026-27 runs from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027. If you're selling equity shares or equity mutual funds this year, here's the exact formula to calculate your Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax — plus a worked example and the advance tax dates you need to know.

Before you rely on this

The rates below (₹1.25 lakh exemption, 12.5% LTCG) are the ones in effect from FY 2024-25 onwards, per Budget 2024. India's Union Budget is presented every February, so always cross-check against the latest Budget announcement for FY 2026-27 before filing — rates can change year to year.

LTCG tax rates (as of the most recent Budget)

LTCG Amount Tax Rate
Up to ₹1,25,000 per FY 0% (Exempt)
Above ₹1,25,000 12.5%

+ 4% Health & Education Cess on the tax amount. Short-Term Capital Gains (STCG, holdings ≤ 12 months) are taxed at 20% with no exemption. For the full breakdown of how these rates came about, see our LTCG tax guide.

The LTCG tax formula

Step 1 — LTCG = Sale Value − (Cost of Acquisition + Transfer Expenses)
Step 2 — Taxable LTCG = Total LTCG for the FY − ₹1,25,000 exemption (floor at ₹0)
Step 3 — Tax = Taxable LTCG × 12.5%
Step 4 — Total Payable = Tax + (Tax × 4% cess)

Two things trip people up here. First, the ₹1.25L exemption applies to your total LTCG for the financial year across all stocks — not per stock, and not per trade. Second, if you sold the same stock on multiple dates, the cost of acquisition for each sold lot is determined by FIFO (First-In-First-Out), as required by the Income Tax Act — not your average buy price.

Worked example

Suppose across FY 2026-27 you booked the following long-term gains (all holdings > 12 months, no grandfathering adjustment needed):

Item Amount
Total LTCG for FY 2026-27₹3,40,000
Less: ₹1.25L exemption− ₹1,25,000
Taxable LTCG₹2,15,000
Tax @ 12.5%₹26,875
+ 4% Cess+ ₹1,075
Total LTCG Tax Payable₹27,950

Advance tax due dates for FY 2026-27

If your total tax liability for the year (including LTCG) exceeds ₹10,000, you're required to pay advance tax in instalments rather than all at once when filing your ITR:

Since capital gains are hard to predict in advance, the law allows you to pay the instalment for gains realised so far — you don't need to estimate gains you haven't made yet. Missing an instalment triggers interest under Sections 234B and 234C.

Skip the manual math

The formula above works fine on a calculator for one or two trades. It gets error-prone fast once you're applying FIFO across dozens of buy/sell transactions, multiple demat accounts, and pre-2018 grandfathered holdings. LotSight applies this exact calculation automatically — upload your FY 2026-27 tradebook and get your precise LTCG, STCG, unused exemption, and advance tax schedule in seconds.

Calculate your exact FY 2026-27 LTCG tax

Free for your first 200 trades. No credit card required.

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