Capital Loss Carryover 2017 - 2 Stocks, Gain AND Loss, Gain is larger

[XYZ_RmaK9a53]

I had 2 separate sales for 2017, where one stock had a large gain and the other stock had a smaller loss.

When totaled together, it is a gain.

I thought I could preserve the loss on the losing stock going forward  -- I want to preserve any losses if possible.

I also have MORE of this losing stock. 

Do I have to ensure that this losing stock is my ONLY sale for a given Tax Year in order to get 100% of those losses counted for

Capital Loss Carryovers?

Also, in case it makes a difference, assume I have no Taxable Income for these years. 

Even with Capital Gains, I did not have to pay any taxes.

So, I want to preserve the losses going forward until I eventually do have Taxable Income.

[NCperson]

once you sell the stock you must report the transaction - whether gain or loss in the year it occured.

So for 2017, you should have reported the loss along with the gain netting a net gain.

for 2018, you can't report that 2017 loss.  If you sold the stock at a loss and can't offset it against a gain, then the first $3,000 of losses can be reduced to offset any earned income. 

Anything not used can be carried forward (basically indefinitely) until you have a stock gain or earned income.  Again all the loss can be netted again any gains and if there are still unused losses,  $3,000 gain be used to reduce the losses 

[OldTaxDude]

I'm not clear why you'd "preserve" the loss.  As noted, you must claim the loss in the year it is incurred.  You'd want to use the loss to offset the gain.  The ONLY exception to this is the "loss sale rule."   Assume you own 100 share of XYZ that you purchased for $1000.  The current value is $200.  You believe the stock will recover, so you want to hold it, but you could use the tax write-off.  So, you sale the stock for an $800 loss, then buy the stock the next day.  NOPE.  The rule prevents you from deducting the loss because you re-purchased the same stock within 30 days of the sale.  You cannot deduct this loss until you sell the new shares.  (If this were a real situation, I'd advise you to buy the new shares first.  Then sale the old ones after 30 days.  You'd get your loss and still have the shares.  The only downside is your out $200 for 30 days.)

[NCperson]

The Schedule D instructions require reporting of ALL transactions that occur in the same reporting year.. i’ll Post the link if requested.

Yet, there is the FALSE belief that you can sell stocks and then only report the gains (when you capital gains bracket may be zero or 10%) and hold off reporting the losses until you are in a higher capital gains tax bracket (15% or 20%) and use them at that point when they are more valuable to offset gains....

You can’t “cherry pick” what transactions to report as you must report them ALL Thecorrect way to defer the losses is as OLdTaxDude describes