You cannot "lose" your carry over. It's either applied to the current year return or carries over to the next year or, frequently, some of each.
If last year's tax preparer failed to apply it properly, you can file an amended return, to claim it. But even if you don't amend, you must adjust the carry forward amount, for the current year, by the amount that shoulda been claimed last year.
Q.Are there any exceptions to this rule?
A. Sort of.
Basically, you are allowed to use your standard or itemized deductions to reduce your taxable income before having to use your capital loss. So, if your taxable income is already zero, you do not have to use your capital loss carry forward, on your current year return.
Technically, if your standard (or itemized) deduction is greater than your AGI, without the capital loss, then all your capital loss is carried forward.
TurboTax can handle it and will prepare a "Capital loss carry forwardworksheet" to show the how much of your capital loss that will be carried forward to the next year. Your tax preparer may have done something similar.
