What are “carried-forward losses”, and do I need to enter them?

If in a given year you lost more on the markets than you gained, that loss is not wasted: you can offset it against your gains in later years. In France this carry-forward runs for 10 years.

Earnnest automatically works out the losses from the transactions you have recorded. What it cannot guess are the losses you suffered before using Earnnest, or at a broker you have not entered.

If you have any, enter them on the Tax page under “Carried-forward losses”. Give the year of origin and the amount you still have left to offset: you will find it on last year's tax return (in France, box 3VH).

If you have never had a losing year, leave this section empty.

These losses are used oldest first, so that an old loss does not expire unused. When a loss passes the allowed time limit, the summary tells you so explicitly.