best way to go about stocks for tax reasons

[istrokedmine]

just wondering what the cliff notes version of stocks profits/losses are?

if i have been holding a stock for a while and i am in the red, should i sell now and use the loss for a tax write off, and buy again within the next day or two?

correct me if i am wrong but isnt the % on what you will pay the tax man different if you own a stock for over a year?

[aiki14]

under a year = ordinary income
over a year = cap gain
You can't buy and sell the same security for a tax gain, you must wait 30 days. See the wash sale rules at the www.irs.gov or www.investopedia.com

[Luc1Grunt]

When do you need the tax loss.....06 or 07?

[aiki14]

There are also caps and restrictions to what you can write the losses off against.