Filing Form 8895 Question - Do I Need It Without Business Income since 2019?

But doesn't the business loss carryforward for like 20 years or something? I thought you could use old business losses indefinitely until they're used up? If they had a loss in 2019 wouldn't they still need to track it even if the business is closed?

Net operating losses (NOLs) can indeed be carried forward, but the rules have changed over the years. For losses incurred in 2019, you can carry them forward indefinitely, but they're limited to offsetting 80% of your taxable income in any future year. If you haven't had any business income since 2019 and don't plan to have any in the future because the business is completely closed, you might not benefit from tracking these losses anymore. However, if there's a possibility you might restart the business or have other business income in the future, you'd want to keep track of those unused losses.

Did taxr.ai actually give you specific instructions on how to tell TurboTax the business is closed? Or did they just give general advice? I'm having a similar issue with a different form and wondering if it's worth checking out.

I'm skeptical about these online tax tools. Couldn't you just call TurboTax support directly? Seems like they should be able to help with their own software issues without needing another service.

They gave me super specific step-by-step instructions for TurboTax. It was something like navigating to the business section, selecting the specific business entity, and then finding a "business closed" option that I had totally missed. The instructions were customized to my exact situation and tax software. Calling TurboTax is definitely an option too, but I had already spent 40 minutes on hold when I decided to try taxr.ai instead. I uploaded my previous return and got answers in minutes rather than waiting for phone support. Plus they explained WHY the form was being requested, which helped me understand the issue better.

How does this Claimyr thing actually work? Do they just call the IRS for you? I don't understand how they can get through when regular people are on hold for hours.

Sounds like a scam to be honest. The IRS prioritizes calls in their own way - no way some third party service can magically jump the queue. I'll believe it when I see it.

They don't call the IRS for you - they hold your place in line. It's like having a digital assistant wait on hold instead of you. Their system navigates the IRS phone tree and then calls you when an actual human IRS agent is on the line. It's pretty simple but effective. It's definitely not about "jumping the queue" - everyone waits their turn. The difference is you're not personally waiting on hold for hours. Their system handles that part, and you only get on the phone when there's an actual person ready to help. I was skeptical too until I tried it.

Does FreeTaxUSA handle business losses correctly though? I've heard mixed things about their self-employment features compared to TurboTax.

FreeTaxUSA has worked perfectly for my small business for the past two tax seasons. Their interface for business income and expenses is actually cleaner and more straightforward than TurboTax in my opinion. Their system for tracking loss carryforwards works well too - it automatically pulls the information from your previous year's return if you used them before, or you can enter it manually if you're switching from another service. The best part is they don't lock features behind paywalls or make you wait for "form availability" like TurboTax does.

I think this is the right answer! I had the exact same issue with a rental property I sold, and just marking it as "disposed" in TurboTax fixed everything. The software just needs to know you're not continuing with that business.