http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatsp...r-forex-losses-in-the-wake-of-swiss-surprise/ f you are one of many who got caught on the wrong side of the forex trade when the Swiss National Bank (SNB) surprised the markets with a huge policy change this week, you probably incurred significant losses. Here’s a quick primer on how to handle these losses on your tax returns. First, it’s important to segregate your losses into two camps: the forex trading loss (Section 988 or capital loss) incurred on your open positions that were liquidated or closed by you or your broker, versus losing a deposit in an insolvent financial institution (Section 165). The latter also happened to traders who made money on this market event. Forex tax treatment By default, forex trading losses are Section 988 ordinary losses, unless you filed an internal contemporaneous capital gains election at any time before this new trading loss was incurred. In that case, it’s a capital loss subject to capital loss limitations of $3,000 per year against ordinary income. With a capital gains election in place, if you trade major currencies and don’t take or make delivery, you probably use Section 1256(g) lower 60/40 capital gains rates.
Indeed. Just be aware that there are very few folks at the IRS who understand 988, and as such you increase your chance of an audit significantly. But you're in the right, as long as you follow surf's commentary.