We want to pay our home mortgage off by selling some stocks we have held for a long time. We owe 190k on the mortgage. Our regular income is only 20k this year. How much will selling this stock affect us tax wise? We understand we have to pay a 15% capital gains tax on the "gain" from the sale. Where do we show the total amount we received and also the "gain" we are being taxed on? We know we use the Schedule D and a Form 8949. Thanks for any help you can provide.

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The long term capital gains tax rate depends on your adjusted gross income (AGI). If you are married filing jointly and your AGI is less than $70,700 the capital gains tax rate is 0%. Above $70,700 its 15%. And yes, you report the sale on form 8949, which gets carried to Schedule D, and the result from Schedule D is carried into Form 1040.

For 2013 we won't know what the rules are until Congress decides how to avoid the fiscal cliff.

ebaines again answered everything with his usual competence.