Guest lanzafan Report post Posted January 24, 2005 I lost $60,000 trading stocks two years ago (2003). I have an opportunity now to offset these losses by flipping a brand new house after keeping it for less than a month. However, I can make more money if I keep the house longer term, like a year. Can a short term loss in stocks offset a long term gain in real estate if I keep this property for a year? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dave T 0 Report post Posted January 24, 2005 lanzafan, I think that you are correctly reasoning that because net stock market losses in excess of $3000 are carried forward several years, you are effectively banking a capital loss that can be used to offset a future capital gain. Because you went on to ask the question about offsetting a long term gain, you may already know that your stock market loss can not be used to offset gains from a property flipping activity. The reason being that stock market gains and losses are reported on Schedule D while property flipping activities are reported on Schedule C, and a loss on Schedule D does not cancel a gain on Schedule C. If the profit on the sale of your property will be reported on Schedule D (even if it is a short term capital gain), then your prior year suspended losses in the stock market can be used to reduce your taxable profit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
