(a) In general—(1) Years to which loss may be carried. In order to compute the operations loss deduction of a life insurance company the company must first determine the part of any losses from operations for any preceding or succeeding taxable years which are carryovers or carrybacks to the taxable year in issue. Except as otherwise provided by this paragraph, a loss from operations for taxable years beginning after December 31, 1954, shall be carried back to each of the 3 taxable years preceding the loss year and shall be carried forward to each of the 5 taxable years succeeding the loss year. Except as limited by section 812(e)(2) and paragraph (b) of §1.812-6, if the life insurance company is a new company (as defined in section 812(e)(1)) for the loss year, the loss from operations shall be carried back to each of the 3 taxable years preceding the loss year and shall be carried forward to each of the 8 taxable years succeeding the loss year. In determining the span of years for which a loss from operations may be carried, taxable years in which a company does not qualify as a life insurance company (as defined in section 801(a)), or is not treated as a new company, shall be taken into account.

(2) Special transitional rules.

(i) A loss from operations for any taxable year beginning before January 1, 1958, shall not be carried back to any taxable year beginning before January 1, 1955. Furthermore, a loss from operations for any taxable year beginning after December 31, 1957, shall not be carried back to any taxable year beginning before January 1, 1958.

(ii) If for any taxable year a life insurance company has made an election under section 810(e) (relating to certain decreases in reserves for voluntary employees' beneficiary associations) which is effective for such taxable year, the provisions of section 812(b)(1) and subparagraph (1) of this paragraph shall not apply with respect to any loss from operations for any taxable year beginning before January 1, 1958.

(3) Illustration of principles. The provisions of section 812(b)(1) and of this paragraph may be illustrated by the following examples:

(4) Periods of less than 12 months. A fractional part of a year which is a taxable year under sections 441(b) and 7701(a)(23) is a preceding or a succeeding taxable year for the purpose of determining under section 812 the first, second, etc., preceding or succeeding taxable year. For the determination of the loss from operations for periods of less than 12 months, see section 818(d) and the regulations thereunder.

(5) Amount of loss to be carried. The amount which is carried back or carried over to any taxable year is the loss from operations to the extent it was not absorbed in the computation of gain from operations for other taxable years, preceding such taxable year, to which it may be carried back or carried over. For the purpose of determining the gain from operations for any such preceding taxable year, the various operations loss carryovers and carrybacks to such taxable year are considered to be applied in reduction of the gain from operations in the order of the taxable years from which such losses are carried over or carried back, beginning with the loss for the earliest taxable year.

(6) Corporate acquisitions. For the computation of the operations loss carryovers in the case of certain acquisitions of the assets of a life insurance company by another life insurance company, see section 381(c)(22) and the regulations thereunder.

(b) Portion of loss from operations which is a carryback or a carryover to the taxable year in issue—(1) Manner of computation.

(i) A loss from operations shall first be carried back to the earliest taxable year permissible under section 812(b) and paragraph (a) of this section for which such loss is allowable as a carryback or a carryover. The entire amount of the loss from operation shall be carried back to such earliest year.

(ii) Section 812(b)(2) provides that the portion of the loss from operations which shall be carried to each of the taxable years subsequent to the earliest taxable year shall be the excess (if any) of the amount of the loss from operations over the sum of the offsets (as defined in section 812(d) and paragraph (a) of §1.812-5) for all prior taxable years to which the loss from operations may be carried.

(2) Illustration of principles. The application of this paragraph may be illustrated by the following example:

[T.D. 6535, 26 FR 537, Jan. 20, 1961]