Form 1045 is used by taxpayers who are eligible to file for a quick refund of previous years' tax resulting from an NOL that was generated on a later year return. This option is provided as an alternative to filing amended returns for those previous years. For more information on determining whether a 1045 or amended returns should be filed, see the Instructions for Form 1045.

Enter all pertinent information on the 172 screen (screen 1045 in Drake Tax 2023 and prior) in order to populate Form 1045.

• The left side of the screen will generate Form 1045, pages 1 and 2 -- the tax year to which the NOL should be carried back to and the AGI from that year are required to be entered. Enter any additional information necessary.

• In prior years, the right side of the screen populated Form 1045, Schedule B, pages 4 and 5. Starting with Drake Tax 2024, entries on the right side generate Form 172, pages 1- 3 instead. Enter any pertinent information in this section.

• To enter information for an additional carryback year, press Page Down to generate an additional screen.

If the NOL is being carried back later or outside the software, do not mark the option on the NOL screen that indicates that the 20YY NOL is being carried back later or outside of the software​.

Never enter current year losses on the LOSS screen. The software automatically carries a current year NOL forward for you, so no additional entry is necessary. This carryforward is displayed on the Wks CARRY worksheet in View/Print mode.

• In Drake Tax, Form 1045 is only able to be generated for carryback of a NOL. If you need to carry back a general business credit or Section 1256 loss on Form 1045, you will have to manually complete the form outside the software. A fillable PDF is available from the IRS.

• e-Filing: Prior to Drake Tax 2024, Form 1045 was not supported for e-file.

Form 1045 will generally not produce if there is no current year net operating loss to carry back.