Losses within an IRA are not deductible at all. The 2% provision does not exist for 2018-2025 since miscellaneous deduction are no longer allowed per the Congress tax bill.
"My loss to date is 16K from a regular brokerage account, not a retirement account."
You do not have any loss until you sell the securities and "realize the loss", then it is first used to offset any capital gains, then up to $3,000 of the loss is used to offset ordinary income which would include taxable IRA distributions and taxable Social Security income. Any loss exceeding that will carry forward to next year.
**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**
