Summary of the issue - Turbo Tax claims I cannot carryover any of my foreign tax credit. I was not able to use my foreign tax credit as it was more than the federal tax that I owed (which was $0). Is this correct? I thought if you are not able to use the full amount of a foreign tax credit you are allowed a 1-year carryback or a 10-year carryover.
The details are that my income last year was all from capital gains and the amount was such that I was in the 0% capital gains tax bracket. I held mutual funds that invested in foreign countries and paid foreign income tax so I had about $300 of foreign tax. Form 1116 shows that (on line 13) the $300 amount as being available for credit, but then (as I would expect in this case) line 19 shows $0 federal tax paid and so the multiplication that is done for line 20 shows $0 as the maximum amount of credit. So far I agree with all this.
However, Turbo Tax has a Form 1116 worksheet (Foreign Tax Credit Computation Worksheet) that at the bottom shows for 2008 Foreign Taxes as $300, Disallowed as $0, Utilized as $300, and so the Carryover is $0. I've read Publication 541 and it seems to me like I should be allowed to carryover the $300.