With COVID-19 pandemic, this has been a difficult year for most businesses, and your business may have made a tax loss.
A tax loss is when the total deductions you can claim, excluding gifts and donations, are greater than your total income for an income year.
If your business makes a tax loss, you may be able to:
- offset the loss in the same income year against other assessable income, or
- carry forward the loss and claim it as a business deduction in a later year.
If you’re a sole trader or in a partnership and want to offset a tax loss, first check if you meet at least one of the non-commercial losses requirements.
If you do meet the requirements, then you can offset the loss against other assessable income (such as salary or investment income) in the same income year.
If you don’t meet the requirements, you can defer the loss or carry it forward to future years. For example, you can offset it when you next make a profit.
If your business is a company, you can generally choose the year you want to claim a deduction.
If you need any assistance with your business accounting and taxation, give our team at SPS Business Consultants a call on 
(03) 9904 9261.