2021 Short term capital gains - can offset with 2022 losses?

[qwain76]

Last year was a very successful year for stock market traders. I was able to close the year with good gains, in my case many of which are reported as short term gains in the 1099.

However, the start of 2022 has been pretty painful the market has significantly dropped, and I realized significant losses so far, offsetting many of the 2021 gains.

Now my rookie question is: do I have to pay all the taxes on my 2021 gains or is there a way to use the 2022 losses to somehow offset the gains?

Thanks

[VolvoGirl]

Sorry no.   Only the other way around.  If you had more losses than allowed you can carryover the rest to the next year.  But you can't use future losses to offset current year gains.

[fanfare]

When the market is gong up, everybody is  a trading genius.

if your trading goes south you may lose all the money you made in 2021 and more.

Meanwhile, you still get the IRS tax bill for 2021 profits.

Good Luck.