If you are self employed and had a loss for tax purposes in your latest tax
year, the loss can be used to reduce other income on your tax return.
The loss from self employment may be a business loss, or it may be a property
loss, such as from a rental.
If you had no other income against which to offset this loss, you can carry
back this non-capital loss to any of the prior 3 taxation
years. To do this, you have to file a form T1A, "request for loss
carryback". See the article on changing your tax
return. For carry-forward
periods, see non-capital
losses.
When tax software is used to prepare your
tax return, the request for loss carryback can be completed and filed as part
of the tax return.