Carryover loss

[Bbolthou]

2019 I had a short term loss of 27,000 in stock. I sold it and took my money out of market.  I did the carry over loss of 1,500 the last two years. In 2021 I had a short term gain in a stock for about 24,000. In TurboTax when I entered the information it didn’t really change my tax refund. I didn’t think it was possible to apply carryover loss over 1,500 but that is what it looks like it is doing.

[MayaD]

 The limit is applied when you offset the ordinary income. However, Capital losses can be fully applied against future capital gains.

[fanfare]

your capital loss was not carried forward correctly.

go back to your 2019 and 2020 tax returns to see what happened.

you did make paper copies for your records, right?

you may have to amend your returns.

[Hal_Al]

@Bbolthou  said: "I did the carry over loss of 1,500 the last two years". 

$1500 is the limit for someone using Married Filing Separately (MFS) filing status. All others get a $3000 limit.

If you used $1500 in 2019 and 2020, you would have a $24,000 loss carried forward for 2021.  That would be enough to fully offset your $24,000 gain.

However, if you used (or shoulda used) $3000 in 2019 and 2020, you would have a $21,000 loss carry forward, So, 24,000 gain minus $21,000 loss = $3,000 net capital gain for 2021.