I have loss on my 2014 tax, how can I carryover it on my 2020 tax?

[rjs]

What kind of loss - business loss, gambling loss, capital loss, net operating loss, something else?

As a general rule, you can't ignore a loss for 5 years and then jump from 2014 to 2020. If the loss can be carried over at all, it has to be carried forward from year to year, from 2014 to 2015, then to 2016 and so on, until either it is used up or you hit the maximum number of years for the carryover. Some types of loss have to be carried back before they can be carried forward. If you tell us the type of loss, we can give you more details.

[cuih1996]

Thank you so much for your information. My loss was capital loss. I did not carry over through 2015-2019.  Is it possible to carry it on my 2020 tax? 

[ColeenD3]

You can't skip years with a capital loss carryover. You will need to amend those years to include it.

[VolvoGirl]

Even if you don't amend you have to figure out each year's amount of capital gains and losses to see how much to carry over to the next year.  If you had gains you have to reduce them all by the carryover amount so there might not be any left to carryover and over.

This is from the IRS Pub 550 page 66....

"When you figure the amount of any capital loss carryover to the next year, you must take the current year's allowable deduction into account, whether or not you claimed it and whether or not you filed a return for the current year. "

IRS Pub 550 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p550.pdf

[rjs]

A capital loss carryover has to be carried over from year to year until it's used up. If you had a capital loss in 2014 and you could not deduct the entire loss that year, you have to carry it over to 2015, then 2016, and so on. You will have to amend your 2015 tax return to include the capital loss carryover. If it's not used up in 2015, you will have to amend the subsequent years, one by one, until either the loss is used up or you get to 2019. Then you will be able to enter the information from your amended 2019 tax return in TurboTax for 2020, so it can calculate the amount that is carried over to 2020, if any.

For all years, when TurboTax asks if you know the carryover amounts, do not answer Yes. Select the option that says you need help figuring out the carryover amounts.

You don't have to wait for your past-year amended returns to be processed before you file your 2020 tax return, but you need the information from the recalculated 2019 tax return in order to correctly calculate the capital loss carryover to 2020.

The amended returns may show an additional refund, but it's too late to get a refund for 2016 or earlier. To get a refund for 2017 the amended return has to be filed by May 17, 2021.

You will not be able to use TurboTax to prepare the amended returns for 2016 and earlier, because TurboTax for those years is no longer available or supported.