The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance on how companies can claim a refund under a recent Congressional gift—an extension of net operating loss carryback provisions to enable companies to offset current losses with tax refunds from prior years.
While typically companies can carry net operating losses back for up to two years, the recent Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 allows companies to carry losses back as far as five years. That gives companies a greater opportunity to improve current cash flow by claiming a refund on taxes paid as far back as five years ago.
