VolvoGirl:
Thanks for details explanation. You said online version which I never used. I have been using the TT from Costco for more than 20 years and I believed I didn't see any capital loss carryover most of the time as I have the loss to cover the deduction every year, therefore it didn't have an impact on my past tax returns.
I lost over $3000 most of the time every year and had $3000 deducted most of the time. I believe I should have enough loss carryover accumulated to cover $3,000 every year. However, I saw in 2020 I had a capital loss deduction of $1623 which may not be right as the carryover had not been transferred from past year. Can I go over my 20 years tax return to add up all the losses and the deductions taken and update my capital loss in 2024? Will that be an issue with IRS.
I do have gains in stocks which I haven't take the profit. I think I should do the tax harvesting now and get my 2024 tax return come to a $3000 gain so that a deduction from carryover can effectively bring the amount close to $0 so I don't have to pay tax. What do you think?
Not sure I followed all that. You should look at each year and have both those 2 worksheets. They should be in the pdf files. In the Desktop program you can go to Forms and find them in the list in the left column.
You can amend the last 3 years if it will make a difference. Yes you can update the carryover amount. But you have to start from the beginning and refigure each year before doing the next year to bring the right amount forward.
This is from the IRS Pub 550 page 66 Capital Loss Carryover
"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… http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p550.pdf