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How do I claim a business loss in EasyTaxer?

On Tax → Losses & Claims you tell HMRC how you want to use a loss: brought forward against this year's profit, carried forward, carried back or set sideways, or as a terminal loss. HMRC only accepts losses and claims once the tax year has ended.

Where to find it in EasyTaxer: Tax → Losses & Claims

A still from the video: a dark green title slide labelled MTD for Income Tax, Year end, listing two numbered steps, Tell HMRC how to use it and After the year ends, with the EasyTaxer logo in the corner, under the title Made a loss?

Video coming soon

The video for this page is coming soon. The steps below describe everything it will show, in the same order.

Step by step

  1. Open Tax → Losses & Claims and pick the tax year (for 2026-27, after 5 April 2027).
  2. Under Brought Forward Losses, enter the amount of earlier losses you are using this year, not your total.
  3. Fill in the claim that applies: carry forward, terminal loss (only if the business has ceased), or carry back and sideways.
  4. Check What HMRC holds for you, then select Submit to HMRC.

Steps: the text version of this video

  1. The short answer

    If your business made a loss, you tell HMRC how you want to use it. In EasyTaxer, that's under Tax, then Losses and Claims. HMRC only accepts losses and claims once the tax year has ended: for 2026 to 2027, that's after 5 April 2027.

  2. Trading losses

    HMRC's helpsheet on losses sets out the ways a trading loss can be used. Against your other income, in the same tax year or the year before. Or carried forward, against profits of the same trade in later years. There are extra rules for the first four years of a trade, and when a business stops.

  3. Property losses

    Property is different. A loss from letting is normally only set against future profits of the same rental business. With more than one property, the figures are added together, so a loss on one is set against profit on another. UK and overseas properties are kept separate.

  4. The Losses and Claims page

    On the page, Brought Forward Losses is the amount of earlier losses you're using this year, not your total. Then fill in the claim that applies: carry forward, a terminal loss, only if the business has stopped, or carry back and sideways. What HMRC holds for you shows HMRC's own record of your unused losses. Then select Submit to HMRC.

  5. Carrying a loss back

    Carrying a loss back to an earlier year? HMRC gives the relief as a decrease in tax in this year's return. Record it under Tax liability adjustments too; there's a separate video on that.

  6. EasyTaxer is recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. You'll find it at easytaxer.com.

Related

Checked against EasyTaxer on 26 September 2026. Screens can change between releases; if something here does not match what you see, please tell us.