I lost almost 7000.00 on my 401k at work this year. Can I write off those losses on my taxes? I did not see where it gave that option.

[jsroye96]

It asked if my wife had a 401k at her job but it did not ask me. My wife is a stay at home housewife and does not work outside the home.

[bwa · Accepted solution]

If this was merely a loss in value then the loss is not deductible.  (Remember - you didn't report it as income when it went up in value.)

The "benefit" (poor word choice for losing money) is that you will have less to pay tax on when you withdraw the funds.

[jsroye96]

That makes a lot of sense. For some reason I thought I was able to write off losses in years past but it might have been some other deduction. Thanks for answering my question.