A. If you are near retirement, you have an unique chance to avoid paying 15% capital gain tax, although it takes careful planning.
Many retirees waste this opportunity by pulling money from their IRAs instead of from their taxable accounts. The 0% rate is only available to those at the bottom two IRA income tax brackets - below $75,900 for married couples or $37,950 for individuals in 2017.
So if you just started retirement, with no paycheck (or a much smaller paycheck), not taking social security checks, and not yet 70.5, you can plan your selling of appreciated equities in your taxable account so your total income (after standard deduction of $12,700 and $8,100 exemptions) falls within 10% or 15% tax brackets, you will pay $0 long term capital gain tax!
If your solo income is from long term gains, you can effectively realize $96,700 of gains and pay nothing in federal income tax because your standard deductions and personal exemptions would land you at the top of the 15% bracket for married couples. You can take even more gains by using other deductions to stay below the threshold, such as mortgage interest, medical expenses, and charitable contributions.