Can I get back any paid foreign taxes carried forward? TurboTax form 1116 only computes foreign tax credit IF I have paid foreign tax in the year of filing?

[jenny-lee635]

From 1116 line 15 asks line 7 which is the taxable income from sources outside of US.  If I don't have any, then the rest of the foreign tax credit will be zero.  In addition, it seems that the carried forward credit will never be used even I have a taxable foreign income because it only computes the foreign tax credit based on the foreign tax paid in the current tax year.  So what good is the carry forward if I can not used it?  They will all eventually expired after 10 years.    Thank you for your input.

[Mike9241]

to get to use the FTC c/o you need foreign source income in the same category as the c/o in the current year. it is not uncommon for taxpayers to have FTC c/o expired unused.