Tools

Wash-Sale Checker (simple) - Tool

Alexander Harmsen

Alexander Harmsen is the Co-founder and CEO of PortfolioPilot. With a track record of building AI-driven products that have scaled globally, he brings deep expertise in finance, technology, and strategy to create content that is both data-driven and actionable.

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Wash-Sale Checker (Simple)

Wash-Sale Checker (simple)

Educational demo — not tax advice. Assumes you sold at a loss; wash-sale rules only affect loss sales. “Risk flag” here is based on a simple rule: did you buy a substantially identical security within ±30 calendar days of the loss sale?

Risk flag

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Based on ±30-day window & your answer

Window

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Sell −30d to +30d

Buy ↔ Sell gap

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Visual only (not required for the rule)

Timeline

Sell

Buy

±30d risk window Sell Buy

Safe-swap mental model

Swap into a not substantially identical proxy for 31+ days (e.g., different index family, sector tilt, or active vs index).
Use a different issuer or index provider for similar exposure (e.g., S&P 500 fund from Provider A ↔ Total Market fund from Provider B).
Wait 31 full days to repurchase the original security if you want the exact same holding.

Simplified view. Options, automatic DRIPs, and spouse/IRA purchases can also trigger wash-sale treatment.

What the Wash-Sale Checker Does

The interactive tool visualizes the 30 days around a sale at a loss, showing whether a repurchase date overlaps with that window. If a person sold shares on September 30 and bought back the same security on September 15, the timeline makes clear that the purchase falls inside the risk period. By contrast, waiting until November 1 would fall outside the wash-sale window.

This focus on visualization helps reduce confusion. Many investors know the 30-day rule exists but find it difficult to track across multiple trades. The checker makes it easier to spot potential conflicts.

Key Takeaways

The wash-sale rule applies only to sales at a loss - not to gains.
Losses are disallowed if a substantially identical security is bought within 30 days before or after the sale.
The tool highlights the risk window and whether a repurchase fits inside it.
The checker is educational - it does not calculate tax but helps frame the potential issue.

Breaking Down the Inputs

Each field in the tool corresponds to a factor in the IRS test:

Sell Date (Loss Sale) – The anchor point for the 30-day window.
Buy Date – The repurchase date of the same security.
Similar Purchase Within ±30 Days? – A simple yes/no toggle to account for overlapping buys.

The output then shows:

Risk flag – Low, medium, or high, depending on whether the repurchase overlaps.
Timeline visualization – A clear window of the 30 days before and after the sale.
Gap until repurchase – Days between sale and buy, which helps gauge risk.

Why This Matters for Investors

The wash-sale rule does not eliminate a loss permanently, but it does defer recognition by adding the disallowed loss to the cost basis of the replacement security. For investors trying to harvest losses at year-end, that timing can matter.

So what? Recognizing how trade dates overlap with the IRS window helps avoid unexpected deferrals and keeps tax planning strategies more predictable.

This interactive tool is for educational purposes only and provides a simplified illustration of the timing component of the wash-sale rules. It does not determine whether a wash sale has occurred, does not account for all IRS requirements, and should not be relied upon for tax, legal, or investment advice. Tax outcomes depend on your individual circumstances and may differ from the illustration shown. Consider consulting a qualified tax professional.

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