If you’ve made a loss on your self employed business and reported it on a tax return in the past, you can include it on your tax return to offset a profit and reduce your tax bill.

Under Self Employment on the Tax tab, you’ll see the question: ‘I wish to apply a loss from a previous year to this business’. If you tap yes, you’ll be able to include the loss you made in a previous year in your tax return.

Any losses claimed need to have been reported on a previous tax return and can only be claimed once. You should always claim the complete loss from a previous year too. Any ‘excess’ loss will be stated on your tax return and can be claimed in a future year.