Waive or Defer $3,000 Capital Loss in 2019 to 2020

take a look at capital loss carryover worksheet-I believe if the loss is not used-then the loss is carried over automatically--I have seen this on my older and lower income returns-no override req'd

Thank you for everyones contribution, however I am still unclear with this. 

If I have a USD 10,000 capital loss carry forward from 2019, how do I carry forward the entire amount of USD 10,000 to 2020?

On schedule D, Part III, line 21, can one enter USD 0 when filing using turbotax, or are we forced to enter the smaller of the loss on line 16 or USD 3,000, as written in the instructions?

If I am forced to enter USD 3,000 per year for 3 years and not be able to offset with any capital gains, I would only have USD 1,000 of capital losses to carry forward in 4 years.

If I have a capital gain of USD 12,000 in 5 years, with no more capital losses to carry forward, I would have to pay capital gain taxes on the full USD 12,000?  Ideally I would like to carry forward the entire amount USD 10,000 capital losses from 2019 to the year I need to use these capital losses.  With this example, I would expect to pay taxes on 12,000 (capital gains yr 2025) -10,000 (capital losses yr 2019) = USD 2,000.  Is this possible?

Many of those providing answers are not reading the question properly. The question is "can the $3,000 be deferred, or is it mandatory for $3,000 to be included in the current year as an above-the-line deduction. In other words, if the standard/itemized and other deductions would be enough to offset income to be $0 taxable, can the entire capital loss be carried forward without applying $3,000 of the loss in the current year.

The answer to your question: in each year that an excess capital loss cannot be used to offset all capital gain, a minimum $3,000 capital loss must be considered (i.e., applied on the current year tax return as an above-the-line deduction). This would be mandatory, even in the case where other deductions (i.e. HSA, itemized deduction/standard deduction) would otherwise have offset taxable income to $0.

Even if after sustaining a capital loss in a particular year you did not file a tax return, in the subsequent year you'd have to reduce the available capital gains loss by $3,000.

Example:

In tax year 2020 you sustained a capital loss of $20,000. Your gross W-2 (box 1) income of $4,000 was your only income, with no income tax withholding and no estimated tax payments. Although without the $3,000 capital loss deduction your standard deduction would have reduced your taxable income to $0 (and therefore you would not have needed to file a tax return), you'd still have to reduce the $20,000 loss by $3,000 and would only carry over $17,000 to your 2021 tax return.

Consequently, if you'd been required to file a 2020 tax return, but other deductions would have otherwise reduced your taxable income to $0, you'd still have been required to apply the $3,000 capital loss as an above-the-line deduction and carry over $17,000 to 2021.