Business & farm

When a net operating loss (NOL) is initially entered TurboTax will incorporate that into the current tax return once you have completed the NOL worksheet(s).  It will also know if any of the NOL was used on your tax return.  What TurboTax will not do is to calculate an NOL.

• IRS Publication 536

When this initially occurred, then the NOL worksheet was required to be prepared and depending on the year, you had an option to carryforward or were required to carry it back. 

Here's how to enter a 2020 NOL carryforward in TurboTax:

1. Do a Search (upper right) and enter "nol" 
2. Click on the "Jump to....." link
3. Enter your NOL on the screen that appears

Note. As our Tax Champ @Anonymous_ indicated through a test, the NOL must still be calculated and entered into TurboTax each year. Use the IRS publication to access the worksheets.

When To Use an NOL

Generally, if you have an NOL for a tax year ending in 2020, you may carry back the entire amount of the NOL to 5 years before the NOL year (carryback period), and carry forward any remaining NOL indefinitely (the carryforward period).  

Waiving the Carryback Period

You can choose not to carry back your NOL. If you make this choice, then you can carry your NOL forward indefinitely until it is fully absorbed.

To make this choice, attach a statement to your original return filed by the due date (including extensions) for the NOL year. This statement must show that you are choosing to waive the carryback period under section 172(b).

If you filed your original return on time but did not file the statement with it, you can make this choice on an amended return filed within 6 months of the due date of the return (excluding extensions). Attach a statement to your amended return, and write "Filed pursuant to section 301.9100-2" at the top of the statement.

Once you choose to waive the carryback period, it is generally irrevocable. If you choose to waive the carryback period for more than one NOL, you must make a separate choice and attach a separate statement for each NOL year.

Note 2: In 2017, TCJA changed the NOL rules by:

1. limiting NOL deductions to 80% of taxable income,
2. disallowing NOL carrybacks, and
3. lifting the 20-year limit on NOL carryovers.

In 2020, the CARES Act temporarily – and retroactively – changed the NOL rules again.

More information can be found in the IRS publication linked above.

@JPSUN 

{Edited: 02/21/2022 | 2:13p PST]