At least in 2012 long term and short term were separated. Maybe it's changed in 2013. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040sd--2012.pdf Could you explain the output from your software because the pdf above is pretty clear about the separation.
i don't have the output for you,because i was in that situation decade ago. but in case of OP(and as you and others pointed out)-it boils down to the type of gains and losses. if both are short term-it would be zero. i also believe long term losses will be offset by short term gains(that was my case from the past). now long term gains vs short term losses-you probably right about that
The problem, as mav pointed out, is the loss (may have) occured the year AFTER the gain. You pay the full tax owed the year of the gain. Gains are not carried forward...so in 2012 you owe fifty grand on profits of xxx ya gotta pay...you can't offset those gains with the huge loss you may have in 2013. It would be nice if they would allow a carry back provision as they do in an NOL for those people who will die before they use up all their loss carry-forward.
How are you comparing your tax preparation software from a decade ago to regulations today? You know tax laws change every year. Wanna argue about dividend tax rates while you are at it?
Maybe he is right. I've got short term gains this year, no short term losses. I have long term losses that I can take and according to TaxCut I can use them to offset the short term gains.
Loss of either short term or long term only reduce taxable income. It is the gain that matters since long term is generally taxed at a lower rate. You will always be able to take the 3000 loss but it will first go against the short term gain (if any) then long term gain,
The Schedule D itself says you can have short-term gain/losses and long-term gains/losses offset each other. That's why line 16 tells you to combine lines 7 (short-term gain/loss) and 15 (long-term gain/loss). http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sd.pdf
i don't want to argue about anything. all i said(for third time) is that i've been there and i file as that Tax cut or turbotax told me. that's all. even if somehow i was wrong(not me, actually,but the software i've bought)-IRS was fine with it. have nice day