<prompt> Human: Im pretty new with taxes dealing with stock gainslosses and I lost quite a bit on stocks wamu if youre curious last year. I guess it sold at 0 or something because it shows as a transaction. How do I apply this towards taxes last and this year, and how many years can I carry it over? Its quite a bit of money and I hear the limit you can use is 3k?  <response>: The loss is subtracted from any gains you have in stocks. If that doesnt use it up, you can use some amount possibly 3000, need to look it up per year against other income until its all gone. IRS pubs, form instructions and any tax preparing software will cover this. Its very common. 