---
title: "Hidden Value: Think You Know the Capital Gains Tax Rate? Think Again."
description: Think you know the capital gains rate? Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains actually follow a bracket structure that can create some really interesting opportunities.
image: https://www.covisum.com/hubfs/think-advisor-logo-blog.jpg
---
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# Hidden Value: Think You Know the Capital Gains Tax Rate? Think Again.
[IN THE NEWS | ](https://www.covisum.com/blog/topic/in-the-news)12/5/18 12:07 PM | by [Lauren Laferla, Director of Communications](https://www.covisum.com/blog/author/lauren-laferla-pr-content-marketing-manager)
Hidden Value is a new column in [ThinkAdvisor](https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2018/12/05/think-you-know-the-capital-gains-tax-rate-think-ag/)where Joe Elsasser, CFP®, answers common questions with insights advisors and their clients may not have considered. This week he discusses the common belief that the tax rate is 15% on capital gains, and how the tiered bracket structure of qualified dividends and long-term capital gains can actually create some unique opportunities.
Here's an excerpt:
> "The tiered structure of the capital gains brackets creates unique opportunities to take advantage of the zero percent rate. For instance, for a married couple in 2018, the standard deduction is $24,000 plus an additional $2,600 if both are over 65 years old or blind. That means a married couple filing jointly, both over 65, could actually have $103,800 of capital gains and pay no federal income tax at all!"
For clients who are recently retired and have a choice from which account they should be spending, there are often opportunities to take advantage of the zero percent capital gains rate.
Read the article in its [entirety](https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2018/12/05/think-you-know-the-capital-gains-tax-rate-think-ag/).
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