RMD

Previously you could deduct losses from your Qualified Plan (such as an IRA)  if you cashed out all of your Qualified Plans of the same type to the extent you had basis and met other stringent requirements, however, that loophole ended with the 2018 tax year under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. Unfortunately, you cannot currently use gains from your IRA to offset other losses outside of your Qualified Plan.  

If your RMD distributions are coming from a qualified account (IRA, 401k,etc) made with pre-tax contributions, your gains or losses are never recognized within the account and taxation is determine by the amount being withdrawn, not the gains/losses within the account. The withdrawal are made "net" of gains or losses, so this is not calculated after withdrawal. However, on the flip side, if you sell stock that is not in a qualified account and realize a "capital loss" this would be first netted against other capital gains (outside of a qualified account). However, if capital losses still remain, a maximum of $3,000 of the losses could be used to offset ordinary income, including a Qualified RMD distributions. Any remaining unused loss would then be carried forward to future years until depleted. 

Hi Greenery08,

If I understand your question correctly, you are asking whether capital gains generated from a RMD distribution can be used to offset other capital losses such as stock sales, etc.  There is a netting process that needs to be applied in a certain order.  Generally short term losses offset short term gains, and long term losses are offset against long term gains.  Depending on the result:

• If you have an overall net capital loss for the year, you can deduct up to $3,000 (MFJ) of that loss against other kinds of income, including your salary and interest income.
• Any excess net capital loss can be carried over to subsequent years to be deducted against capital gains and against up to $3,000 (MFJ) of other kinds of income.

Here is a great resource to review:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/investments-and-taxes/capital-gains-and-losses/L7GF1ouP8