Is 172 (b)(3) election required to waive carryback of individual return non-farm nol for 2018 or is it automatic?

[dlwrightandco]

client has nol from land rent on schedule e. program help says 172(b)(3) election is only for certain farm losses and insurance companies. so to waive the carryback period does this election still need to be attached?

[sjrcpa · Accepted solution]

There is no longer an NOL carryback so there is nothing to waive.

[rbynaker]

Can we wave goodbye to carrybacks?

[sjrcpa]

:wave:

[LesEdy]

CARES Act (passed March 2020) reinstated 5-year NOL carryback for all 2018-2020 NOL's.

Election to waive carryback (if desired) can be made on 2020 tax return, referencing Rev Proc 2020-24.

Proseries is still referring to old law. Hopefully they will update soon, and add all possible 172(b)(3) elections in the 2020 software (such elections are available in Proconnect Online and, I presume, Lacerte, but Proseries has still not been updated).

[Kfd]

LesEdy, can you show me where ProSeries is referring to old tax law? Just curious

[LesEdy]

It's been fixed. However, separate elections for 2018 and 2019 are still not available.

[Kfd]

I have a client that could benefit from electing to waive the NOL carryback for 2020. Would we need multiple copies of the IRC section 172 (5 to be exact) since we need to make 5 separate elections for each year? Currently, I can only access one copy. Is this what you mean by separate elections or is there another area that is also not updated?

[lesed]

Deleted, was logged in on wrong username. 

[LesEdy]

Why 5 elections? I think it's just one election per tax year. On the 2020 return it's possible to make up to 3 elections ie for 2018, 2019 and/or 2020. The problem with the software is that it only allows one election (for one year). They need to fix it so you can choose 2018 and/or 2019 and/or 2020.