Excess business losses | Internal Revenue Service

Noncorporate taxpayers may be subject to excess business loss limitations. The at-risk limits and the passive activity limits are applied before calculating the amount of any excess business loss. An excess business loss is the amount by which the total deductions attributable to all of your trades or businesses exceed your total gross income and gains attributable to those trades or businesses plus a threshold amount adjusted for cost of living. For taxable years beginning in 2021, the threshold amounts are $262,000 (or $524,000 in the case of a joint return). A “trade or business” can include, but is not limited to, Schedule F and Schedule C activities and other business activities reported on Schedule E. Business gains and losses reported on Form 4797 can be included in the excess business loss calculation. They also include pass-thru income and losses attributable to a trade or business. This includes farming losses from casualty losses or losses by reason of disease or drought. Excess business losses that are disallowed are treated as a net operating loss carryover to the following taxable year. See Form 461 and instructions for details.