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June 6, 2019
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For a business, can capital gains be offset by ordinary losses?

  • June 6, 2019
  • 1 reply
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I know that capital losses cannot offset ordinary income. But I'm wondering about the opposite. Can capital gains be reduced by ordinary losses?

For example, let's say my corporation made $100,000 profit by selling stocks and bonds. But it lost $25k in expenses like payroll, marketing etc. So is the taxable income $100k or $75k? I'm guessing it's $75k since capital gains are taxed as ordinary income. But I want to make sure that's the case.

(note: this is for a C Corporation)

    Best answer by LudwigVan_fan

    Yes that should be correct.

    See Pub 542 for more information and also the instructions for F1120

    https://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/priorFormPublication.html?resultsPerPage=200&sortColumn=sortO...

    Going through F1120, capital gain is included in the total income section.

    Deductions are listed below.  In your example, barring any "limited" deductions, taxable income should be $75K.



    1 reply

    LudwigVan_fan
    Employee
    June 6, 2019

    Yes that should be correct.

    See Pub 542 for more information and also the instructions for F1120

    https://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/priorFormPublication.html?resultsPerPage=200&sortColumn=sortO...

    Going through F1120, capital gain is included in the total income section.

    Deductions are listed below.  In your example, barring any "limited" deductions, taxable income should be $75K.



    **Disclaimer: Effort has been made to offer correct information; but due to the discussion forum limitations, the poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the poster's response**
    coolwindAuthor
    June 6, 2019
    Thanks!