I have 10K in capital loss, I know I have to claim 3K this year but how can I tell if it would be beneficial to carry over any in future years or claim all of it now?

[DS30 · Accepted solution]

You have no choice to claim it all in the current year.

The IRS only allows you to claim up to $3,000 of capital losses against ordinary income in the current year.

Then for future years, you will first apply these carried over capital losses against current year capital income. If there are still capital losses available, you will be able to offset up to $3,000 of ordinary income each year. Any remaining capital losses will be carried over to future years to first offset future capital gains then up to $3,000 of ordinary income.

Please refer to this IRS link for more information about capital gains and losses:

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc409.html

[Hal_Al]

It's not optional.  You have to claim the entire loss this year and must use the maximum $3000 allowed. The $7000 must be carried forward, unless you are able to off set some of it by realizing other  capital gains.

If you question is, "should I realize gains to offset the loss this year or carry it forward to next year", you would need to do test returns to compare.  This tool may be useful: http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/