Capital Gains Tax by Country 2026

Highlighted Countries

Finland

Capital gains taxes are the taxes that are paid on gains made on investments, and Finland has one of the highest capital gains taxes in the world. When looking at capital gains tax by country rates, most countries are going to have a tax rate here in the 10 to 15 percent mark with stipulations on what is and isn’t taxed, and how much.

Finland has a capital gains tax of 30 to 32 percent, a figure that is based on realized income. Some of these taxes can be exempted during real estate transactions if the property has been owned and resided in over the previous two years. This is not an affordable country for investors.

France

France also has a high capital gains tax of 32.5 percent, to fund its more socialist policy. It is a policy that embodies the strategy of taxing the wealthy while leaving the middle class to pay taxes of an average rate. There was a time when the president of the country wanted to tax millionaires at a rate of 75 percent. Whether or not he was joking remains to be seen, but it was a strategy that still won him the election.

The short-term capital gains on realized income will have higher tax rates than others in France, and can be as high as 45 percent. Tax representatives during real estate purchases are not uncommon in France. This may not be an affordable place for investors, but the payoff can be significant.

Denmark

Europe is prone to being a heavily taxed area of the world to live in, and Denmark offers an excellent example here. This country offers a capital gains tax of almost 60 percent in some realized income categories, while 42 percent is closer to a normal standard of living in Denmark.

When profits on realized income are smaller, or less than $10 thousand, capital gains taxes are reduced to 27 percent. This is close to the American rate of capital gains taxes which is complained about by Americans frequently.

United States

Capital gains taxes on income that is realized from appreciated assets in the United States are regulated by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 at a rate of 28 percent. This country also, like other countries, stipulates tax rates based on the amount of income realized.

The mindset here is that the wealthy get taxed more heavily. Additionally, longer-term gains have a higher tax rate closer to the 28 percent mark, while high tax brackets for general income can see tax rates close to 20 percent.

At the same time, in the United States, and all other countries, the capital gains tax by country rates are going to be determined by the current leadership of the country, and are subject to change with every election cycle.