Contributions to a Personal Pension Plan or Retirement Annuity Contract can be treated for tax purposes if they had been made in the preceding tax year (carried back) If insufficient Net Relevant Earnings were made in the preceding year to permit the Carry Back, then it may be possible to elect to have the payment treated for tax purposes as if it had been paid in the year prior to that, effectively carrying back 2 tax years
If you have deductions or credits that cannot be taken in the current year, in some instances the IRS allows you to reduce your tax liability for a prior year or years by using it This is known as a carry back Individual taxpayers may carry back net operating losses, general business credits and foreign tax credits, but not capital losses Amounts not carried back may be carried forward to later years