Tax Capital Gains

Capital Gains & Tax-Harvesting (estimates)

Read-only, best-effort estimation. reference/READ-ONLY-POLICY.md (hard rule) and reference/RESEARCH-STANDARDS.md (disclosure) apply. Works over whichever broker(s) BROKERS.md names active — resolve any capability against reference/BROKER-CAPABILITIES.md.

Always caveat clearly: these are estimates from available data, not a substitute for your broker's Capital Gains Statement or a qualified CA — say so in the output, especially before any number could be used for filing.

State the FY and rate basis up front. Name which financial year's slabs/rates the estimate uses (LTCG/STCG rates and exemption thresholds have changed across FYs — e.g. the FY24-25 Budget's equity LTCG/STCG revision), with the as-of date, so a stale training-data rate never silently substitutes for the current one. Where the acquisition date is on or before the grandfathering cutoff (31 Jan 2018 for equity LTCG), say whether grandfathered cost is being used or ignored — don't apply it silently either way.

Steps

1. Holdings with cost basis. Equity holdings capability, from every active broker (avg buy price, quantity). Fund units and cost basis come from PORTFOLIO-PLAN.md, unless INDmoney is active and covers them (see BROKER-CAPABILITIES.md). Lot-level detail is unavailable outright on Groww (get_order_details is broken) and unverified elsewhere, so gains are estimated off average cost: say so, and note that actual buy dates decide the LTCG/STCG split and any grandfathering the user must check in their broker's statement.

2. Mark to market. LTP / quote+depth capability for unrealized gain/loss per holding.

3. Classify holding period where determinable: equity and equity MF

   12 months → LTCG, ≤12 months → STCG, against the FY stated above. Say explicitly when the exact purchase date isn't in the data pulled (e.g. only an average cost across lots) — never silently assume a holding period.

4. Surface opportunities, framed as "you could consider", never an instruction to sell:

   • Loss harvesting — positions at an unrealized loss that could offset gains this FY. Use the plan's tax context (realized STCG/LTCG so far, carried-forward losses, exemption used) and respect its selling constraints (lock-ins, LTCG-threshold holds, untouchables). Blank section → offer portfolio-plan-builder rather than netting against an assumed zero.
   • Gain timing — positions near the STCG→LTCG threshold where waiting would meaningfully change the rate.

5. Present: summary table (holding, qty, cost basis, current value, unrealized gain/loss, LTCG/STCG bucket where known), then harvesting observations, then the caveat about verifying against your broker's official statement and consulting a CA. Close with the disclosure block too — this is estimate territory twice over, on data completeness and on not being tax advice. Formal version: reference/templates/tax-capital-gains.md, which most users of this skill will want.