for etf investors bearing the brunt of a down market in 2022 taxloss harvesting might offer a silverlining opportunity to redeem some of this years setbacks the strategy allows investors to sell securities at a loss in order to offset those losses against capital gains taxes on other securities if youve invested in a total return bond fund anytime in the last five years in a taxable account youre likely at a loss between 12 and 15 dj tierney senior portfolio strategist at schwab asset management solutions told bob pisani on cnbcs etf edge on monday you have this opportunity before the end of the year to sell that fund realize the loss and stay invested by buying an aggregate bond etf he said tierney explained that the strategy can be used across asset classes such as emerging markets bonds and equities to lower tax obligations and investment expenses on an ongoing basis this is the perfect year to do this dave nadig financial futurist at vettafi said in the same segment with etfs the only thing you really need to be careful of is that you cant go exactly the same that means ensuring the funds you are selling and buying while tax harvesting arent identical exposures nadig said the guideline known as the washsale rule prohibits selling an investment for a loss and replacing it with the same or a substantially identical investment 30 days before or after the sale but you could absolutely sell your sp 500 fund and buy a russell 1000 fund he said you can get away with that all day nadig explained that while its difficult to pinpoint whether the harvesting strategy is amplifying in the etf space he said vettafi is seeing more aggregate moves out of big blocks of etfs we had big outflows in some of the value funds last week he said weve seen big inflows into really core exposures like an ivv or a voo  those things to me smell like taxloss harvesting tierney said he is also perceiving levels of increased interest in the strategy among etf investors pointing to telltale signs among advisors and clients at schwab were getting questions on strategies and tactics and how to do it he said and then on a macro level the massive inflows into etfs in aggregate compared to the outflows in mutual funds would suggest this may be happening with the sp 500 down about 17 this year ailing investors can still sell off losing assets of up to 3000 from their regular income before the end of the month in turn losses above 3000 can be carried forward to offset earnings in future years but tierney pointed out that the 3000 cap is only a limitation against offsetting ordinary income if youve got material gains that youve realized through some other investment this year then the losses can offset that 1for1 and there is no limit he said it could be hundreds of thousands it could be millions of dollars if you had capital gains to offset