I currently have two Schedule Cs for similar businesses. I want to merge them this year (2018 taxes) - how do I do this in Turbo Tax?

[Leonard · Accepted solution]

If the two business are similar enough that one Schedule C can be used to report all the expenses and income then you will remove one Schedule C from your tax return. 

• Select Wages & Income.
• Scroll down to the Business Items section.
• Select Business Income and Expenses (Sch C). 
• Select edit on the Schedule C you want to delete select.
• Continue until the page Tell Us More About Your Business.
• Check the box I sold or otherwise disposed of this business during 2019

[Edited 03/11/2020 | 10:43 am PDT]

[WJbean]

Thank you!! So even though the business is operating and not disposed of, clicking that box won't cause issues in the return?

[AK137]

I don't think this will work very well -- what about passive loss carryovers and assets being deprecated. They will not transfer over well. I recall that TurboTax 2020 prompted me on whether I would like to treat businesses together for income and expense purposes. I wasn't ready at the time, but now I really want to do this. Is this a feature that was removed in TurboTax 2021? 

[Carl]

You "really" need to provide more details. Why would someone have two SCH C's for two "similar" businesses? There are valid reasons. But still, incorrect assumptions are easy to make with the little amount of information you've provided. My initial impression is that you have one business that, when started was owned by you and your spouse. You live in one of the community property states that allows a married couple with a joint business to split the income/expenses between the two of you by filing a SCH C for each of you on your joint return, with all income/expenses divided equally between the two SCH C's. Those states are Louisiana, Arizona, California, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wisconsin.

Now, something has happened such as separation, divorce, or one of you no longer wants the business, or the two of you are filing Married Filing Separate, and the other one person (you) now owns and reports all business income/expenses on a single SCH C.

So you "really" need to provide more details to paint a clearer picture of what's going on here. Otherwise, you risk those responding to you making incorrect assumptions resulting in information that causes you to do something that begs for an audit.  Otherwise, this is one of those situations where the accuracy of the answer is directly proportional to the clarity of the question.

Why do you now need to combine two SCH C's into one?

Are there depreciable assets involved on both SCH C's?

[VolvoGirl]

You can not combine 2 Schedule Cs into 1.  You would have to dispose and remove one Schedule C  and manually add it all into the other C.   So I don't know what Turbo Tax was asking you about treating them together.  Unless you were entering a second 1099 for income.  Or if you are married and have a Joint business.