I have not gotten a resolution on this.
I have spent the last several weeks trying to find a CPA with experience in this area that would speak with me about it at an hourly rate. No luck this season - if they are not going to do all of your taxes for you they don't have any interest in consulting right now ...
After carefully reading the instructions for Form 1119 on the IRS website, it almost appears to me as if the carryover is only good for offsetting future foreign income and/or taxes. This would then seem to imply if you don't have any income for 2020, Form 1119 is not required. I cannot however seem to find ANY guidance ANYWHERE to help clarify this. I could easily be trying too hard to read between the lines ...
I have a large carryover (many thousands), so I'm pretty interested in determining if it may be used to reduce my US tax burden this year or not. However, I need to get through this filing season, so I'm starting to think I need to play it safe for now, zero out the 1119 related items, see if turbo tax will then allow my return to be successfully filed without a 1119, and then submit an amendment once tax season is over and I can talk to a real accountant.
I'm very very frustrated with both the lack of clear, plain English, IRS guidance here, and the poor handling of this situation by Turbo Tax. At the very least, the program should NOT default to submitting a return to the IRS that is so wrong on a particular form that it's instantly rejected.
