§ 121.13. Net losses.
(a) Under the provisions of Article III of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (72 P. S. § § 7301—7361) a person shall not be allowed to offset a gain in one class of income with a loss in another class of income. However, a gain may be offset with a loss in the same class of income but limited to the amount of the gain if the income class is one in which net income rather than gross income is reported. For example, if a person experiences a net loss from the sale or exchange of property he shall not enter this loss on Form PA-40 and use this loss to offset income from compensation. However, both gains and losses from the sale or exchange of property may be entered on Schedule D and thus offset part or all of the income in this class.
(b) If a person experiences a net loss in an income class he should enter a zero on the appropriate line of Form PA-40.
Notes of Decisions Class of Income
Rental losses and losses from the disposition of real estate cannot be used to offset income from compensation or the net profits from the operation of a business or profession, because losses in one class of income, as defined by section 303 of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (72 P. S. § 7303), cannot be used to offset a gain in another class of income. Therefore, any paper or real loss suffered by or through the ownership of the apartment building could not have been used by the individual taxpayers to offset or reduce income or profit from any other source or endeavor. Orsato-Guenon, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 665 A.2d 520 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1995).
Selective Application Unacceptable
Selective application of the tax code and these regulations was simply unacceptable. The taxpayer, an S corporation, merely failed to complete a simple form yet in every other way properly complied with the law with the individual stockholders paying Pennsylvania personal income tax on their individual returns. The bottom line was that taxpayer, the corporation, did not own the real estate in question; thus, it had no income and could not be liable for any income tax. Orsato-Guenon, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 665 A.2d 520 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1995).
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