Key Takeaways
- Anthropic’s IPO is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq on Nov. 20, and individual investors can buy in through brokers such as Fidelity.
- A married couple with $60,000 of taxable income who sell a $20,000 gain within a year would owe $2,400 in federal tax at their 12% bracket.
- If they hold more than a year, the gain is long-term. Their $80,000 of taxable income is under 2026’s $98,900 top for the 0% rate, so the federal tax is $0.
- Waiting only pays if the gain holds up: if the stock gives back more than $2,400 of it, the couple would have done better selling early.
Anthropic’s IPO is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq on Nov. 20, and it’s one of the rare giant debuts that everyday investors can get in on. The company is marketing its shares at $70 to $78 apiece and is aiming for a valuation of up to about $1.4 trillion.
Fidelity has posted instructions for its customers, saying those with at least $25,000 in certain Fidelity assets may be eligible. As with most IPOs, you put in an indication of interest, usually for at least 100 shares, along with the most you’ll pay per share. You find out the night before or the morning of the debut whether you got any. Retail buyers in Australia, Japan, Canada and parts of Europe can get shares too.
If you’re retired and you do get some, there’s one tax rule to know before you sell a single share. It could be the difference between a $2,400 bill and no bill at all.
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A quick flip is taxed like an IRA withdrawal
Let’s take a hypothetical retired couple, both 66, with $60,000 of taxable income. Say they buy Anthropic at the IPO, the stock takes off, and a few months later they sell for a $20,000 gain.
Since they held the shares a year or less, that’s a short-term gain, and the IRS taxes it at the same rates as the rest of their income. For a married couple filing jointly in 2026, the 12% bracket runs from $24,800 of taxable income up to $100,800. The gain takes this couple’s taxable income from $60,000 to $80,000, which is still inside that bracket, so every dollar of the gain is taxed at 12%.
That’s $2,400 of federal tax on a $20,000 profit, before any state income tax.
Hold it more than a year and the rate drops to 0%
Now say the couple waits and sells the same shares for the same $20,000 gain more than a year after buying them. That makes it a long-term gain. Long-term gains are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on where they fall in taxable income, with the gain counted in it.
For 2026, the 0% rate covers taxable income up to $98,900 on a joint return. With the gain, this couple is at $80,000, well under that line, so the federal tax on the whole $20,000 is $0.
They’d even have almost $19,000 of room left under the line for more long-term gains that year at the same 0% rate.
Waiting has its own risk
Of course, nobody knows whether IPO buyers will see a gain at all. Of more than 9,000 IPOs from 1975 to 2021, 60% were trading at or below their first-day closing price three years later, according to Jay Ritter’s IPO data at the University of Florida.
If the stock gives back more than $2,400 of that $20,000 gain while the couple waits out the year, they end up with less than if they’d sold early and paid the tax. A retiree may also simply need the cash, and that’s a fine reason to sell.
So I’d treat the 0% rate as a reward for being patient with a stock I still believe in. If the reason I bought is gone, $2,400 is a fair price to get out. Anyone who sells inside the year may want to send the IRS an estimated tax payment. The IRS can charge an underpayment penalty when too little was withheld or paid in during the year, unless a safe harbor applies.
Plan on owning it for more than a year
Frankly, if you’re a retiree buying Anthropic at the IPO, I’d go in planning to own it for more than a year, and I’d only buy as much as I could stand to hold that long. A fast pop is tempting, but at this income the IRS rewards waiting with a 0% rate.
If part of the couple’s income is Social Security, though, a gain of either kind can make more of their benefits taxable, which would raise both bills. And a sale made after the year is up goes on 2027’s return, and the IRS adjusts these lines for inflation each year.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
