Capitol gains

[Warren Whitmore]

What is the minimum holding time to avoid these?

[adios]

Always have to pay a capital gains tax on net positive realized results for a year. The question is whether or not it is a short term or long term. The long term holding period is 12 months I believe.

[Trefo]

You've got to hold for over a year to get the tax break....Otherwise if it's a short term holding you get taxed 40%.

[Ray Zee]

one year for the cap. gains rate. or it is taxed as income at your rate. you can deduct loses to offset it so you may not have a tax on it.
most of the times i planned my sales to coinside with tax laws i regretted it later. buy and sell when there is a good reason to.

[Wildbill]

That is the best advice out there. Tax consequences are generally lousy reasons to make investment decisions, they should just be an extra consideration. If you in something you plan to sell say by end of January, you might want to think about looking at if it would help to sell by Dec 31, but don't look at your gain or loss for a year and decide that you HAVE to make a transaction to offset that by the end of the year. There are some things you can do that are advantageous tax-wise, especially making sure to not let tax losses expire the legal timeframe to be used, but right now I think few people need to even consider that.