If you’re asking yourself, “Can I use NOL carrybacks in 2025?”, the answer is simple: yes, you can—but only if you know exactly where to look and act before the clock runs out. Too many business owners think NOL carrybacks were a one-time pandemic thing. They’re not. If your business took a hit in 2018, 2019, or 2020, and you haven’t claimed your refund yet, you could be sitting on a massive cash opportunity from the IRS.
At Icarus Fund, we’ve helped business owners just like you uncover six-figure checks using forgotten tax losses. If you’ve landed a government contract recently and you’re scrambling to cover startup costs—listen up. You don’t need to rely on loans, lines of credit, or high-interest financing. You might already have the cash you need… just stuck in your old tax returns.
Wait—What’s an NOL Carryback, Again?
Let’s keep it simple. A Net Operating Loss (NOL) happens when your business expenses are higher than your income in a tax year. Normally, you just carry that loss forward to reduce taxes in future years. But under special IRS rules—and especially the ones triggered by the CARES Act—you can carry those losses backward to profitable years and get a refund check for taxes you already paid.
That’s what an NOL carryback does: it turns past losses into present-day cash. Now you’re probably wondering again, “Can I use NOL carrybacks in 2025?” The answer is still yes—if your loss came from 2018, 2019, or 2020, and you act before your deadline expires.
How the CARES Act Changed the Rules—and Why They Still Matter
In 2020, the CARES Act brought back and expanded the NOL carryback rules that had been limited by previous tax law. The big win? It allowed businesses to take losses from 2018, 2019, and 2020 and carry them back up to five years. That’s huge.
For example, let’s say you had a $400,000 loss in 2020. You can apply that loss to 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019—any years in which you made profits and paid taxes. If you paid $100K in taxes in 2017, you could get that money refunded.
Here’s the part most business owners miss: these refund windows haven’t all closed yet. In 2025, you’re still within the 3-year window for filing NOL carrybacks on returns filed in 2022—meaning if you filed a 2020 return on extension in 2022, the opportunity might still be open. But the window is closing—fast. So if you’re asking “Can I use NOL carrybacks in 2025?”, the answer is only if you act right now.
Let’s Talk Real-World: How One Contractor Got Paid
One of our clients—we’ll call him Ray—owns a manufacturing business that got slammed in 2020. He had a $300,000 loss that year and assumed it was useless since he was just trying to survive. In 2023, he came to us after winning a Department of Energy subcontract and needed startup capital.
We looked at his past tax years. Turns out, he made a killing in 2017 and paid nearly $90,000 in taxes. We filed an NOL carryback on his behalf using Form 1139. The result? A $90,000 refund in just under 10 weeks. That money covered materials, payroll, and bonding requirements for his new contract. He didn’t have to borrow a dime.
That’s the power of understanding the system. That’s the answer to “Can I use NOL carrybacks in 2025?” when the right team is on your side.
Step-by-Step: How to Claim NOL Carrybacks in 2025
Step 1: Check Your Loss Years
You need to have had a legitimate NOL in 2018, 2019, or 2020. Go back through those tax years. If expenses were greater than income, you likely qualify.
Step 2: Find Your Profitable Years
Now look at your returns from 2013 through 2019. Did you pay taxes in those years? Perfect. You can carry the losses back to those years and recover taxes already paid.
Step 3: File the Right Form
Most people file an amended return, but that takes time. You want Form 1045 (for individuals) or Form 1139 (for corporations). These fast-track forms can get you your refund in as little as 45–90 days. At Icarus Fund, we prepare and file these directly—we don’t leave it to chance.
Step 4: Get Paid, Fund Your Contract, Grow
Once your refund is processed, use that cash to fulfill your government contract. We’ve had clients use carryback refunds to fund equipment, hire staff, or simply stabilize cash flow while waiting on those slow federal payments to roll in.
What If My Losses Came After 2020?
This is where the rules change. Unfortunately, post-2020 losses aren’t eligible for carryback under current law. But they can still be carried forward and used to reduce future tax liability. While that doesn’t generate immediate cash, it’s still a powerful strategy when combined with proactive planning.
At Icarus Fund, we help businesses stack deductions in ways that create intentional NOLs—legally and strategically. That’s a topic for another article, but trust me: there’s always a way to leverage tax law in your favor.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
If you’re asking, “Can I use NOL carrybacks in 2025?”—you’re already ahead of the pack. But don’t trip up now. Here’s what to avoid:
Waiting too long. The filing window is closing. Miss it, and your refund is gone forever.
Filing the wrong form. Don’t file a slow amended return if you qualify for fast-track processing.
Not including all deductions. You might have more loss than you think—especially if you missed depreciation, interest, or bonus write-offs.
Assuming you’re not eligible. Many businesses qualify and don’t even realize it until they talk to us.
Let Icarus Fund Handle It for You
We’ve built our entire firm around helping businesses tap into their tax history and unlock funding without borrowing. We don’t do generic tax prep. We engineer tax strategy.
We know the pressure of scaling for a government contract. You’ve got 90 days to fulfill deliverables and zero margin for error. The IRS doesn’t move fast unless you know the right doors to knock on. We do.
So stop wondering, “Can I use NOL carrybacks in 2025?”
Let us answer that for you—with a check in your hand.
💼 Still eligible? Let’s find out—before the door shuts for good.
👉 Schedule your free NOL refund analysis with Icarus Fund today.
Your past losses could fund your current contract. We’ll handle the tax code. You handle the growth.
Act now. Refund windows close. We don’t.
