Dependent son (college student) has prior year capital losses but was not required to file returns

[Scott_S]

My son is 21 and a full-time college student.  Tax year 2020 is the first year that he is required to file a return.  He had net capital losses from 2017 thru 2019 but was not required to file a tax return since he only had unearned income and it was below the required threshold for filing.  Is there a way to utilize the capital losses from prior years in 2020?  Would I have to file returns for 2017 thru 2019 showing $0 tax due in order to carryforward the losses to 2020?

[KrisD15]

Yes, please have your son file a 2017 return to show the loss. He has until May 17th to do that. He should continue the filings through 2020 where he can finally use the loss. 

The IRS may audit for proof of the original loss, and they could make a fuss if the time limit for filing has expired. 

[Scott_S]

Thank you for your response.  This may seem like a dumb question but how do I go about filing taxes for the prior years?  I assume I can't use Turbo Tax and efile this far after the fact?

[ThomasM125]

The capital loss is deductible up to $3,000 each year, so if he didn't have any income he would have a net operating loss of $3,000 each year in addition to the capital loss carryover.

You can use this link to obtain the TurboTax programs for previous years that you can use to prepare the tax returns:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/past-years-products/