Traders: Consider Ordinary Loss Election By Tax Deadline

Click to read Green’s blog post in Forbes.

Traders who qualify for trader tax status (TTS) and have a large trading loss in 2016 should consider filing a 2016 Section 475 MTM (ordinary loss treatment) election statement with their extension or return by the April 18, 2016 due date. Section 475 exempts traders from the capital loss limitation and wash sale loss rules. It’s too late to elect Section 475 for 2015: that election was due last April 15, 2015.

Section 475 allows a choice: an election on securities only, Section 1256 contracts only, or both. Specify such in the election statement. Only traders who qualify for trader tax status may use Section 475 and it applies to active trading in that business activity as a sole proprietor individual or on the entity level. Section 475 doesn’t apply to segregated investment positions, so traders may use long-term capital gains benefits on investments.

The biggest problem for investors and traders occurs when they’re unable to deduct trading losses on tax returns, significantly increasing tax bills or missing opportunities for tax refunds. Investors are stuck with this problem, but business traders with TTS can avoid it by filing timely elections for business ordinary tax-loss treatment: Section 475 mark-to-market (MTM) for securities and/or Section 1256 contracts if elected. (Section 1256 contracts include futures, broad-based indexes, options on futures, options on broad-based indexes and several other instruments.)

By default, securities and Section 1256 investors are stuck with capital-loss treatment, meaning they’re limited to a $3,000 net capital loss against ordinary income. The problem is that their trading losses may be much higher and not useful as a tax deduction in the current tax year. Capital losses first offset capital gains in full without restriction. After the $3,000 loss limitation against other income is applied, the rest is carried over to the following tax years. Many traders wind up with little money to trade and unused capital losses. It can take a lifetime to use up their capital loss carryovers. What an unfortunate waste! Why not get a tax refund from using Section 475 MTM right away?

Business traders qualifying for TTS have the option to elect Section 475 MTM accounting with ordinary gain or loss treatment in a timely fashion. When traders have negative taxable income generated from business losses, Section 475 accounting classifies them as net operating losses (NOLs). Caution: Individual business traders who miss the Section 475 MTM election date (April 18 for 2016) can’t claim business ordinary-loss treatment on trading losses for the current tax year. They will be stuck with capital-loss carryovers.

A new entity set up after April 18, 2016 can deliver Section 475 MTM for the rest of 2016 on trading losses generated in the entity account if the entity files an internal Section 475 MTM election within 75 days of inception. The new entity using Section 475 does not change the character of capital loss treatment on the individual accounts before or after entity inception. The entity is meant to be a fix for going forward; it’s not a means to clean up the past problems of capital loss treatment.

Ordinary trading losses can offset all types of income (wages, portfolio income, and capital gains) for you and your spouse on a joint filing, whereas capital losses only offset capital gains. Plus, business expenses and business ordinary trading losses comprise a NOL, which can be carried back two tax years and/or forward 20 tax years. It doesn’t matter if you are a trader or not in a carryback or carryforward year. Business ordinary trading loss treatment is the biggest contributor to federal and state tax refunds for traders.

There are many nuances and misconceptions about Section 475 MTM, and it’s important to learn the rules. For example, you’re entitled to contemporaneously segregate investment positions that aren’t subject to Section 475 MTM treatment, meaning at year-end you can defer unrealized gains on properly segregated investments. You can have the best of both worlds — ordinary tax losses on business trading and deferral with lower long-term capital gains tax rates on segregated investment positions. We generally recommend electing Section 475 on securities only, so you retain lower 60/40 capital gains rates on Section 1256 contracts. Far too many accountants and traders confuse TTS and Section 475; they are two different things, yet very connected.

Section 475 Election Procedures
Section 475 MTM is optional with TTS. Existing taxpayer individuals and partnerships that qualify for TTS and want Section 475 must file a 2016 Section 475 election statement with their 2015 tax return or extension by April 18, 2016 (April 19, 2016 if you live in Maine or Massachusetts). Existing S-Corps file in the same manner by March 15, 2016.

Election statement. The MTM election statement is one simple paragraph; unfortunately the IRS hasn’t created a tax form for it. It’s a version of the following: “Pursuant to Section 475(f), the Taxpayer hereby elects to adopt the mark-to-market method of accounting for the tax year ended Dec. 31, 2016 and subsequent tax years. The election applies to the following trade or business: Trader in Securities as a sole proprietor (for securities only and not Section 1256 contracts).” If you expect to have a loss in trading Section 1256 contracts, you can modify the parenthetical reference to say “for securities and Section 1256 contracts.” But remember, you’ll give up the lower 60/40 tax rates on Section 1256 contracts. If you trade in an entity, delete “as a sole proprietor” in the statement.

Form 3115 filing. Don’t forget an important second step: Existing taxpayers complete the election process by filing a Form 3115 (change of accounting method) with the election-year tax return. A 2016 MTM election filed by April 18, 2016 is reported and perfected on a 2016 Form 3115 filed with your 2016 tax returns in 2017 – by the due date of the return including extensions. Many accountants and taxpayers confuse this two-step procedure and they file the Form 3115 as step one on the election statement date. The IRS usually sends back the Form 3115, which can jeopardize ordinary-loss treatment.

Key strategy
If you have an individual $50,000 capital-loss carryover going into 2016, and you lose $50,000 in Q1 2016, it’s probably wise to elect Section 475 MTM as a sole proprietor for business ordinary loss treatment — and related tax relief — rather than digging a bigger hole of unutilized capital losses.

You can form a new entity for a “do over” to get back to capital gains treatment, so you can use up your capital loss carryovers. You have 75 days of additional hindsight once the entity commences business to file an internal Section 475 MTM election resolution for the entity trading. You’re hoping to generate capital gains in the entity to use up your remaining capital-loss carryovers and put off the Section 475 MTM election to the following entity year.

For more information on Section 475 and trader tax status, read Green’s 2016 Trader Tax Guide.