I have an at-risk loss carryover from prior years. Does TurboTax automatically include this in it's calculations, or do I need to enter it? And where?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 12, 2025
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We had losses for two of three Sch C businesses over the past couple of years. I thought TurboTax had automatically included the carryover from 2022 to 2023, but I got confused this time around.

AmeliesUncle

It is extremely rare for a Schedule C to have "At-Risk" carryovers. Most likely, you were "At-Risk" and the loss should have been allowed in the year of the loss.

Why do you think you were not At-Risk that the loss would not have been allowed?

denise6Author

Hmmm. The loss carryovers have been happening since our business was hammered in the recession of 2008-2011. After we moved from California to Colorado a number of years ago, we've had business losses off and on as well. Going clear back to the California tax forms - done by our CPA at the time - the at-risk box was always checked, so I (probably without knowledge of why) had copied when I started using TurboTax. In previous years, I hadn't even thought about it, but this year TurboTax flagged it with a dialog and question about whether I'd entered the loss carryover from 2023 in my current year's expenses. That's what raised the question I just asked.

AmeliesUncle

As I mentioned before, generally a Schedule C will be fully "At-Risk" which would mean the losses are used, not carried over. But you can check the details for "At-Risk Amounts" in Publication 925.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p925#en_US_2024_publink1000104692

Assuming you were fully "At-Risk", there is carryover. If the losses were large, you may consider amending prior tax returns to use the losses.