Tax
Net Operating Loss (NOL)
A tax-deductible loss carried forward from a year when your business's deductions exceeded its income — usable to offset taxable income in future years.
When your business has a loss year, that loss is not wasted. It becomes a Net Operating Loss (NOL) that you carry forward and use to reduce taxable income in profitable years. On the personal return, an NOL from a Schedule C business or a pass-through entity works the same way at the owner level.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reshaped the rules for losses generated after 2017. NOLs now carry forward indefinitely — no more expiration — but they can only offset up to 80% of taxable income in any future year. The old two-year carryback is gone (with limited exceptions for farming and insurance).
For an owner-led business, tracking the NOL balance year-over-year is the difference between paying tax on a rebound year and legally sheltering that income. The NOL lives with the entity that generated it; if you sell the business as an asset sale, the NOL stays behind.
Common pitfalls
- Losing track of the NOL balance across CPA transitions — reconstructing years later requires the original returns
- Forgetting that most states have their own NOL rules that do not mirror federal — a federal NOL is not automatically a state NOL
- Missing the 80% limitation and over-projecting how much current-year tax the NOL will wipe out
- Selling the business as an asset sale and expecting the buyer to inherit the NOL — they will not; a stock sale is required to move it
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