NOL from fema disaster carrying forward from 2020 return

[thom-are]

How do I carryover the NOL from Fema disaster in 2020 for loss of home and personal property?

[Mike9241 · Accepted solution]

Did you elect to carry forward the 2020 NOL with a timely filed return? If not you must carry an NOL back  to the earliest year within the 5 year carryback period in which there is taxable income, then to the next earliest year, and so on. Also, NOLs for these years may offset 100% of taxable income to reduce the tax liability to zero. You didn’t have to carry back an NOL for 2020 for five years if you elected to apply the NOL only to future years by attaching a statement to your tax return for the year.

If you did elect, you must compute the NOL carryforward since Turbotax doesn't do it. 

Use for 1045 schedule A.

https://www.irs.gov/site-index-search?search=1045&field_pup_historical_1=1&field_pup_historical=1 

or PUB 536 for 2021

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/p536--2021.pdf 

If carried back, you must compute the remaining carryforward for future years 

The same is true if you elected carryforward. After applying whatever 2021 NOL can be carried to 2022 then you may need to compute to see if there's any left over for 2023.

[thom-are]

Hi, I don't know what "Did you elect ..." means but I did claim the disaster on my return.  So going forward I need to use schedule A and enter the amount myself?

[Mike9241]

in 2020 you had a choice if you had an NOL carryover. 1) you could have elected by attaching a statement to the 2020 timely filed return that you wanted to carry forward the NOL to 2021 and future years if need be.  2) if you did not include the election or did not timely file, your only option is to carry back the NOL to the 5th earliest year IE 2015. To the extent not used in 2015 carry the balance forward to 2016 and so on.  

The deadline for filing this claim is three years after the filing date (5/17/2021 for 2020 1040) of the return for the tax year in which the NOL arose (or the original due date of that return if it was filed early). it would seem if you did not make the election to carry forward the loss, it is too late to file an amended return for 2015.