My husband was unemployed last year. His income was around $20,000. We have a very large loss from a business that we have carried over for a few years now. We have an accountant that we always used for several years for filing but he charges so much and we really don't have the funds this year. I hope someone can answer this for us:

I think we could just file online. He only has two w-2s, no interest, dividends, etc. and we have no need to itemize except for the losses. I used a tax calculator online and it looks like we would get a larger refund if we did not claim the losses this year and did a simple return. My main concern is if we don't carry over our loses on this return, would we lose the ability to claim them next year when his income increases? We can't lose them but really need the extra money right now.