Loss carryover Schedule C

[Mike Friedman]

I picked up a new client with Schedule C loss carryovers. How can I get this into the return software?

[BulldogTom]

In cases like this, I usually go back to the prior year and enter the return so that all of the carry forwards roll into my first return.  Since you are only making the prior return look like what they provided you, you can do it quickly and override fields if you don't have the schedules or detail from the prior year.   Then you have everything clean in the year you picked up the client.   It is also a good way to get to know what happened on the prior year so anything that changes dramatically, you can ask about.

Anyway, that is how I do it when I have a new client with any kind of carryforwards.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Abby Normal]

We usually go back and enter the prior year return anyway, so we can provide a useful organizer and to double check the return. We get to amend a lot of returns that way.

[BulldogTom]

5 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

We usually go back and enter the prior year return anyway, so we can provide a useful organizer and to double check the return. We get to amend a lot of returns that way.

I usually take a quick look at the prior year and if there looks to be anything significantly wrong, we talk about amending.   But if it "passes the smell test", I don't dig and I don't do the extra work to enter unless there are carryforwards that I want to roll forward.   I am not looking to seek out amended returns that I did not prepare.   I just can't bill enough to make it worth my while.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[grandmabee]

What do you mean by schedule C loss carryovers"?  did they have a NOL?  carryover from 8829?  schedule C itself does not have a carryover.

[Lion EA]

If I get a new client when I have a minute (November or December?), I enter them in my program. I learn about them, have any carryovers in place, will get a better year-to-year comparison, and might find something to ask about/amend. At the least, I'll have a better feel for 2018 vs. 2019, for instance. Otherwise, I review three years' of returns (ideal, but will settle for one or two), enter comparison data in current year program, and scour for carryovers, suspensions, you know the stuff. It's sometimes faster to enter last year's return than to find all the places to enter carryovers in this year's!

[BulldogTom]

45 minutes ago, Lion EA said:

It's sometimes faster to enter last year's return than to find all the places to enter carryovers in this year's!

Exactly!

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Yardley CPA]

On 2/1/2020 at 2:14 PM, Abby Normal said:

We usually go back and enter the prior year return anyway, so we can provide a useful organizer and to double check the return. We get to amend a lot of returns that way.

Bulldog Tom and Abby....How exactly are you entering the prior year returns?  Are you overriding the fields or are you actually entering the information in their proper entry forms?

[BulldogTom]

2 hours ago, Yardley CPA said:

Bulldog Tom and Abby....How exactly are you entering the prior year returns?  Are you overriding the fields or are you actually entering the information in their proper entry forms?

Override, but on the proper forms.  Normally I don't have all the back up documentation, so I override until I get it to exactly what the prior year return says.   Then I save and roll over.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[EricF]

Re-entering the prior year is essential for the NOL worksheet, because the NOL carryover is not just the Schedule C loss.  It can be affected by other income reported in the return as well as deductions from income.

Don't forget that we now have QBI loss carryforwards, nothing from 2017 and before, but if there was a QBI loss in 2018, it carries forward to 2019 to reduce 2019 QBI.