Help me understand Vanguard's Tax Center Categories

[BTDretire]

Doing tax planning, as I look at Vanguard's Tax center, then the second box 'Quarterly'
 I see what I have received this year, I have VTSAX, VTI and a Money Market in this taxable account.
 It is listed as
"Dividends and Interest Distributions" I have YTD $9,200
Sales of Securities" 'Long Term' I have YTD,  - $5,000, I sold a stock for a loss.
"Total Non Retirement Income" I have YTD $4,200
"Year-end Total" I have YTD $5,570   All these are approximate, the totals do work out.

IIRC, when I fill out the tax form, Interest goes on one line and Dividends on another and then Qualified Dividends on a 3rd line.

 My planning would be to sell stocks and use the stock loss against the gains of the sold stock.
 How do I separate the interest from the dividends and Qualified Dividends.
Does it matter for tax planning, why or why not.
 My ignorance is kicking in for tax work.
                              Thanks

[robartsd]

Why would you want to realize a capital gain to cancel the loss instead of just deducting the loss from ordinary income? The limit for deducting capital lost from ordinary income is $1500/taxpayer, but the remaining loss could be carried forward to future tax years.

[BTDretire]

 Edit to add, I did find that for 2019 94.5% of the dividends were Qualified, but I still have the number includes dividends and >interest<

We  are retired, most of our income is from investments.
So far my only income for this year is $4,400 of interest from a loan,
$2,600 of income from Business asset disposal and 
the Dividends and interest listed in the OP.
So far about $13,000 of income. But as I understand it the only ordinary income is the $2,600 of Business Asset Disposal. (business destroyed by hurricane, sold of a few usable items)
  I want to generate as much income as I can while staying in the 12%
tax bracket.
 MFJ, so I think that's $78,950 + $24,000 standard deduction or $102,950.
 I need to have $63,000 after everything to help pay our expenses and kids tuition in 2020.
 Any further room in the 12% bracket I will pull money from IRA's and do Roth Conversions.
I have a large sum in VTI, taxable, but the gains are only 8% and short term gains, so I can sell that. So much choice, it's driving me nuts.
 If I'm not clear on details, work on me.
 

[secondcor521]

Doing tax planning, as I look at Vanguard's Tax center, then the second box 'Quarterly'
 I see what I have received this year, I have VTSAX, VTI and a Money Market in this taxable account.
 It is listed as
"Dividends and Interest Distributions" I have YTD $9,200
Sales of Securities" 'Long Term' I have YTD,  - $5,000, I sold a stock for a loss.
"Total Non Retirement Income" I have YTD $4,200
"Year-end Total" I have YTD $5,570   All these are approximate, the totals do work out.

IIRC, when I fill out the tax form, Interest goes on one line and Dividends on another and then Qualified Dividends on a 3rd line.

 My planning would be to sell stocks and use the stock loss against the gains of the sold stock.
 How do I separate the interest from the dividends and Qualified Dividends.
Does it matter for tax planning, why or why not.
 My ignorance is kicking in for tax work.
                              Thanks

When Vanguard sends you a Consolidated 1099 in January, they will separate out interest, qualified dividends, and ordinary dividends.

It does matter for tax planning.  Interest is taxed at ordinary rates.  Qualified dividends are taxed at capital gains rates.  I can't remember how ordinary dividends are taxed at the moment.

To figure out tax planning, you can either carefully fill out the qualified dividends and capital gains worksheet in the IRS instructions, the worksheet on Schedule D, or plug your numbers into your favorite tax prep program.

Roth conversions and traditional IRA withdrawals will all generate taxable income (probably at 12%).

You can subtract the capital loss against income up to $3K per year, with any excess being carried forward.  If your capital gains would be otherwise taxed at 0%, it might be viewed as a waste of the capital loss (you could, for example, use the majority of the loss this year against income, then realize the capital gain next month and still not have to pay cap gains as long as your income next year is similarly low).

Finally, if you do end up with capital gains, depending on what your AGI is you can have a hump where ordinary income plus capital gains can be taxed at 12% plus 15% for a 27% marginal rate.  Again, playing with your situation in a tax program helps.

[robartsd]

Non qualified dividends, short-term capital gains, and interest are all ordinary income (at least for most taxpayers - I'm not as familiar with high income tax situations). Qualified dividends and long-term capital gains have a favorable tax rate.

[MustacheAndaHalf]

I think you're allowed to subtract up to -$3,000 loss from income.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/capital-gains-and-losses-10-helpful-facts-to-know-0

A long-term capital loss is first applied to offset your short-term capital gains.  If there's money left over, the next -$3,000 reduces your taxable income.  And finally, the rest rolls over to next year, to be applied against capital gains and income (and then rolled over again, if it's enough, and so on).

Most people's income puts them in the 22% tax bracket.  If you apply -$3,000 to your income, the benefit is -$3,000 x 22% or -$660 lower taxes.

If you instead sell stocks for a long-term capital gain, most people have a 15% tax bracket for long-term capital gains.  if you sell stock until you have $3,000 of long-term capital gains, you have a benefit of -$3,000 x 15% or -$450 lower taxes.

Essentially if you sell stock right now, you're handing the IRS over $200.