I have rolled over Foreign Tax Credits from stock market investments for years and cannot use them. Should I just take a deduction now to get something out of them?

[john154]

I have about $2,400+ to use up, but it seems that I will never be able to use a tax credit for this. Am I able to simply write this off now as a deduction (knowing that this is worth less this way) this year even though I have no foreign revenue from my investments? Did not want these to slowly expire (10 years, correct?) and get nothing for this at all.

[Anonymous]

once you elect to take the credit for a year you can never take any unused portion as a deduction except in certain cases.  you can choose to take the current year amount, if any as a deduction rather than a credit.

here are the IRS instructions for form 1116.  a deduction goes on Schedule A as part of the deduction for taxes.  so to get any benefit from the deduction, total itemized deductions would have to exceed your standard deduction.   your situation is common.  however, if you go back to prior years you'll likely find in most that the credit that was used saved you more in taxes than the deduction for the full amount.

Generally, if you
take the credit for any eligible foreign
taxes, you can't take any part of that
year's foreign taxes as a deduction.
However, even if you take the credit for
eligible foreign taxes for the year, you
can take a deduction for the following.
• Foreign taxes not allowed as a credit
because of boycott provisions.
• Taxes paid to certain foreign
countries for which a credit has been
denied, as described in item 2 under

Foreign Taxes Not Eligible for a Credit