Every state taxes investors differently. Here is how Washington DC treats capital gains at the top rate, the marriage penalty, estate and inheritance tax at death, municipal-bond interest, the §1202 QSBS exclusion, and a harvested loss — a plain reference to the state's tax code.
Washington DC taxes long-term gains at a top effective 10.75%; a state estate tax; common-law step-up (only half of jointly-held property).
Income & gains10.75%
Loss treatment conforms to federal: capital losses net against gains and carry forward. Top effective long-term rate 10.75%.
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State revenue departments, tax year 2025 — verify with a tax advisor.
Marriage1x
One bracket schedule applies to both single and joint filers — a structural marriage penalty for two earners.
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State income-tax filing schedules, tax year 2025 — verify with a tax advisor.
Deathestate
State estate tax (paid by the estate): top rate ~16%, exemption ~$4.87M. Inflation-indexed zero-bracket amount; no portability.
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State estate/inheritance statutes, tax year 2025 — confirm with counsel.
Munisin-state
Only in-state municipal-bond interest escapes state tax; bonds from other states are taxed. The classic in-state muni preference that rewards a home-state ladder.
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State income-tax statutes on municipal-bond interest, tax year 2025 — verify with a tax advisor.
QSBSdecoupled
Decoupled from IRC §1202 — the state does not follow the federal QSBS exclusion, so gain excluded on the federal return can still be taxed by the state.
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State IRC-conformity statutes on §1202, tax year 2025 — verify with a tax advisor.
Lossesfederal
Capital losses carry forward under the federal Section 1212 rules — a harvested loss nets against gains and rolls forward until used.
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State capital-loss carryforward rules, tax year 2025 — verify with a tax advisor.
Basis step-up
Common-law (separate-property) state: at the first spouse's death only the decedent's half of jointly-held property steps up; the survivor keeps carryover basis on their half (IRC 1014(b)(9), 2040(b)).
Summary of state law — primary-source citation in progress. State marital-property law / IRS Pub. 555; IRC 1014 — verify with counsel.
Frequently asked — 7 on Washington DC
How are capital gains taxed in Washington DC?
Loss treatment conforms to federal: capital losses net against gains and carry forward. Top effective long-term rate 10.75%.
Does Washington DC have a state estate or inheritance tax?
State estate tax (paid by the estate): top rate ~16%, exemption ~$4.87M. Inflation-indexed zero-bracket amount; no portability.
Is there a marriage penalty in Washington DC?
One bracket schedule applies to both single and joint filers — a structural marriage penalty for two earners.
How does Washington DC tax municipal-bond interest?
Only in-state municipal-bond interest escapes state tax; bonds from other states are taxed. The classic in-state muni preference that rewards a home-state ladder.
Does Washington DC follow the federal QSBS (§1202) exclusion?
Decoupled from IRC §1202 — the state does not follow the federal QSBS exclusion, so gain excluded on the federal return can still be taxed by the state.
What happens to a capital loss you carry forward in Washington DC?
Capital losses carry forward under the federal Section 1212 rules — a harvested loss nets against gains and rolls forward until used.
How much is careful tax coordination worth in Washington DC?
Coordinating how a portfolio is built and run against Washington DC's rules is worth an estimated ~$45,000/yr for every $1M of taxable assets in our modeling — about +4.5%/yr after tax (a concentrated, naive book keeps ~0.8%/yr vs ~5.4%/yr tax-managed). Your actual figure depends on your holdings — the diagnostic computes it.
What careful tax management can change
Tax law is only half the picture. How a portfolio is
built and run — where each holding sits, how losses are used, how gains are timed — decides how
much of Washington DC's tax code you actually pay. An illustrative estimate for a portfolio here:
~$45,000/yr per $1M taxable
Illustrative after-tax coordination opportunity in Washington DC what running the portfolio against Washington DC's rules can be worth — about +4.5%/yr modeled, as a tax-managed book keeps ~5.4%/yr after tax vs ~0.8%/yr for a concentrated, naive one; illustrative, over ~30 years, scales with the portfolio
How this is modeled: a single 30-year proxy-spliced path (1996–2026), comparing a
concentrated, high-turnover book with a tax-managed one — illustrative and coarse; treat it as
directional, not a precise figure.
Asset location
The bridge between how you invest and how the household is structured — placing the higher-turnover strategy in Roth and Traditional accounts, where its short-term gains escape tax entirely. Coordination itself; quantified for each household in the After-Tax Review.
Patient trading and lot selection
Holds positions through short-term noise and chooses which lots to sell, turning gains that would be taxed as ordinary income into long-term gains taxed roughly 17 points lower.
Loss harvesting
Realizes losses and applies them against the highest-taxed gains first — capturing a spread a simple buy-and-hold fund never reaches.
How to think about Washington DC
Five lenses turn Washington DC's tax environment into a household decision — the same lenses every state is read through, so any two states weigh on identical terms.
Rate pressure
The state takes 10.75% of every long-term gain at the top — severe drag on what a realized return keeps.
Estate exposure
A state estate tax exempts only $4.87M — far below the federal ~$14M; high exposure at death that federal-only planning misses.
Harvesting leverage
A harvested loss is worth the 10.75% state rate it offsets, on top of federal — high harvesting leverage.
Mobility value
Both the rate and the estate regime make relocation genuinely valuable — but domicile is a fact pattern, not a mailing address.
Basis coordination
Common-law basis: only the decedent's half steps up at the first death — plan titling so the survivor is not left with low-basis lots.
Coordination priorities for Washington DC households
Residency & domicile· with your advisor + CPA
Whether — and how — a change of domicile is worth pursuing, and the facts (days, home, ties) that make it real rather than nominal.
Estate structure· with your estate attorney
Whether the state's estate exposure warrants credit-shelter / QTIP titling or lifetime gifting to move value below the state threshold.
Loss harvesting· with your advisor + CPA
Setting a harvesting cadence that captures the state rate a banked loss offsets, sequenced against the state's loss-carryforward rules.
Asset location· with your advisor
Placing the high-turnover sleeve in tax-advantaged accounts so the state's rate falls on the least of the household's realized gains.
What should happen next
advisorModel the after-tax and estate outcome of the current vs a lower-tax domicile, and list the domicile facts to establish before any move.
estate attorneyReview titling and the credit-shelter / gifting options against the state estate threshold; quantify the exposure at the household's net worth.
advisorSet the annual loss-harvesting cadence and confirm it clears the state's carryforward rules.
advisorLocate the high-turnover sleeve into tax-advantaged accounts and confirm the taxable book is the low-turnover core.
See the figure on your own Washington DC portfolio.
The personalized diagnostic computes your after-tax, asset-location, and harvesting picture — by bracket and holdings.
State law reflects 2025 tax-year law; last reviewed 2026-07-07. Every classification is a summary of state law; where a primary-source citation has been verified, it is linked on the card.
What changed
2026-07-07 — First law-review date and honest per-cell source labeling; primary-source citations verified for Illinois, California, New York, Texas, and Florida (more in progress).
2025 — Washington's 7% (+2.9%) excise on long-term capital gains reflected (enacted 2022).
2025 — New Hampshire's Interest & Dividends tax reflected as fully repealed, effective 2025.
2025 — Illinois estate-tax detail tracks the pending SB 2970 as of the review date.
Illustrative / hypothetical — not a real track record and not advice. The tax-management impact figure is a hypothetical, after-tax result from the retroactive application of a tax-management model to ~30 years of proxy-spliced market data on a single illustrative path; no client capital was invested, and hypothetical performance does not guarantee future results. Intended for sophisticated investors; it may not be relevant to your situation, and your actual figure depends on your own holdings, basis, and bracket. State tax facts reflect tax year 2025 and can change — confirm with a tax advisor. Driftwood Wealth is a registered investment adviser; Form ADV and Form CRS are available at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
DRIFTWOOD WEALTH · AUSTIN, TEXAS · FOUNDED 2024MODEL DATA AS OF JULY 2026 · FORM ADV & CRS AT ADVISERINFO.SEC.GOV
Driftwood. State tax law reflects 2025 tax-year law; last reviewed 2026-07-07.