Carry Over - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition carry-over

Definition :

Carry over, a term used in the Stock Exchange to denote the process of postponing the completion of a contract, either for the purchase or sale of stocks or shares, to a later date than that originally fixed. When this happens the buyer usually pays the seller interest on the capital involved, the seller retaining the stocks or shares till the transaction is ultimately completed. This interest is called a 'contango.' If, on the other hand, the buyer is anxious to pay for and take up to stocks or shares but the seller is unable to deliver, the buyer would not pay interest to the seller, but on the contrary exacts a payment from him, as consideration for postponing the completion of the contract. This payment is called a 'backwardation,' or shortly a 'back.'

An income-tax deduction (esp. for a net operating loss) that cannot be taken entirely in a given period but may be taken in a later period (usu. the next five years), Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn.