If your capital losses exceed your capital gains, the amount of the excess loss that you can claim to lower your income is the lesser of $3,000 ($1,500 if married filing separately) or your total net loss shown on line 21 of Schedule D. Claim the loss on line 6 of your Form 1040 (PDF). If your net capital loss is more than this limit, you can carry the loss forward to later years. You may use the Capital Loss Carryover Worksheet found in Pub 550 or in the Instructions for Schedule D to figure the amount you can carry forward.
For a corporation, capital losses are allowed in the current tax year only to the extent of capital gains. A net capital loss is carried back 3 years and forward up to 5 years as a short-term capital loss. Carry back a capital loss to the extent it doesn’t increase or produce a net operating loss in the tax year to which it is carried. Foreign expropriation capital losses cannot be carried back, but are carried forward up to 10 years. A net capital loss of a regulated investment company (RIC) incurred in tax years beginning before December 23, 2010, is carried forward up to 8 years. There is no limit on the number of tax years a RIC is allowed to carry forward a net capital loss incurred in tax years beginning after December 22, 2010.
For more information about corporate capital losses, see Capital Losses in Pub. 542, Corporations.
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