Ordinary non-speculative business loss can be carried forward for eight tax years and set off against future business/professional profit.
Ordinary non-speculative business loss can be carried forward for eight tax years and set off against future business/professional profit. Timely filing is generally required to preserve carry-forward.
Current-year business loss can be set off against eligible heads other than salary, subject to restrictions. Brought-forward business loss cannot be set off against salary or capital gains and is applied before unabsorbed depreciation.
Compute current loss; perform current-year set-off; file the loss return by the due date; maintain origin-year schedule; set off against future business profit before depreciation.
Business loss ₹6 lakh and house-property income ₹2 lakh allow eligible current-year set-off, leaving ₹4 lakh to carry forward if the return is timely.
The example is an illustration, not a substitute for the taxpayer's facts. A change in status, period, payment mode, document, city, asset, relationship or scheme can change the result.
Search pages often state a rate or limit without identifying the governing base. The calculation must distinguish gross receipt from taxable profit, tax from TDS, a deduction from an exemption, salary from business income, and an accounting entry from the tax treatment.
| Decision point | Required treatment |
|---|---|
| Legal year | Use the Act, rules and notification effective for the income or transaction period |
| Taxpayer category | Confirm residence, age, entity, employee/business status and regime |
| Calculation base | Use the statutory definition rather than CTC, net bank receipt or accounting label |
| Ceiling or rate | Apply actual-amount, percentage, shared, lifetime and gross-income limits in sequence |
| Documentation | Link every input to an invoice, statement, contract, certificate or official record |
| Final output | Show tax, surcharge, cess, interest and TDS/TCS credits separately |
This page is written around the entities and concepts search engines expect for the topic: business loss, section 112, unabsorbed depreciation, carry forward. They are used only where relevant and are connected to the live calculator and knowledge hub rather than repeated mechanically.
For the complete rules on this topic, see the core guide: Set-Off and Carry Forward of Losses Under Income Tax.
See the broader Income-tax Act 2025 study guide hub for related rules and calculators on this topic.
Ordinary non-speculative business loss can be carried forward for eight tax years and set off against future business/professional profit. Timely filing is generally required to preserve carry-forward.
Finin2min rule: establish eligibility, calculate transparently, and preserve an audit trail.
Use the current official instrument, portal or regulator publication before acting. This panel separates the category authority from page-specific references.