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The Daily Insight

Can I buy then sell to avoid wash sale?

Author

John Thompson

Published May 14, 2026

There are strategies for avoiding wash sales while still taking advantage of taxable gains and losses. If you own an individual stock that experienced a loss, you can avoid a wash sale by making an additional purchase of the stock and then waiting 31 days to sell those shares that have a loss.

Does a wash-sale go away?

The wash-sale rule prohibits selling an investment for a loss and replacing it with the same or a “substantially identical” investment 30 days before or after the sale.

How do you become exempt from the wash sale rule?

How to Avoid Wash Sales

  1. If you take losses in December, don’t buy back the same stock for 31 days.
  2. Close out any open positions at year end that have accumulated wash sale losses.
  3. Avoid trading the same security in your taxable and non-taxable IRA accounts.

Should you avoid wash sales?

However it happens, when you sell an investment at a loss, it’s important to avoid replacing it with a “substantially identical” investment 30 days before or 30 days after the sale date. It’s called the wash-sale rule and running afoul of it can lead to an unexpected tax bill.

Is there a way to avoid a wash sale?

Avoid a wash sale. The wash-sale rule prohibits selling an investment for a loss and replacing it with the same or a “substantially identical” investment 30 days before or after the sale. If you do have a wash sale, the IRS will not allow you to write off the investment loss which could make your taxes for the year higher than you hoped.

What do you need to know about wash sale rule?

The wash-sale rule keeps investors from selling at a loss, buying the same (or “substantially identical”) investment back within a 61-day window, and claiming the tax benefit. It applies to most of the investments you could hold in a typical brokerage account or IRA, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and options.

When to use wash sale to sell stock?

The rule defines a wash sale as one that occurs when an individual sells or trades a security at a loss, and within 30 days before or after this sale, buys a “substantially identical” stock or security, or acquires a contract or option to do so.

How to avoid violating wash sale rules when realizing tax losses?

When recognizing tax losses, you do have to be careful that you do not trigger a wash sale. A wash sale is when an investment is sold at a loss and the same or a “substantially identical” investment is purchased either 30 calendar days before or after the sale.