2018 I sold a lot of stock but software only credited $3000 of previous loss, not the full amount of $13,000

[genefalk]

Is it me or the software?

[SteamTrain]

Do you mean you had a carryover loss of more than $3000 from last year's tax return?

If so, the next issue is what is your total gain for al the stock you sold in 2018.  IF the 2018 data was a loss, then it is possible/probable that  only 3,000 will be used this year, no matter which year it came from.

I tested the Desktop Premier with a situation with  37,000 of 2018 LT gains, and 4000 of LT carryover losses, and the software used the entire 4000 loss on the forms...reducing the gain to 33,000 on both the schedule D and the Schedule 1.

(...though I'm not up on dealing with short-term vs long term losses)

[VolvoGirl]

You get to first offset the loss against any gains you have each year so that can use more of it up.  Then after applying the loss to the current gains you can take a max loss of 3,000 per year.

On the income page The 2018 column shows the carryover to 2019 (not your current loss for 2018).  Schedule D doesn't actually show the carryover amount. To find your  Capital Loss Carryover amount  you need to look at your  return schedule D page 2.  Line 16 will be your total loss and line 21 should be a max loss of 3,000.  The difference between line 16 and 21 is the carryover loss for next year.

There is also a Carryover Worksheet showing the carryover from the prior year and the current amounts.  Then there is also the Capital Loss Carry Forward worksheet showing the amount transferring over to next year.

In the Online version you have to save your return with all the worksheet as a pdf file to your computer to see the Capital Loss Carry Over and Carry Forward worksheets.

In the Desktop program you can go to Forms and find it in the list in the left column.

[fanfare · Accepted solution]

That's the rules. You will have a $10,000 loss to carry forward to next time for another $3,000 deduction.

[re2boys]

And any carry-over losses must be exercised and reported each consecutive year until fully used.  It is not permissable to decide what years to use the carry forward losses.

[VolvoGirl]

Even if you don’t file a return some year you have to reduce the carryover.  This is from the IRS Pub 550 page 68 middle of last column:
"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. "

Here is pub 550…  <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p550.pdf">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p550.pdf</a>