My business was inactive for 2019 I have to income or expenses, do I need to file some sort of paperwork?

[Spino]

You don't say how you filed previously. If you filed as self-employed in 2018, you might want to continue to show your business in 2019 unless you are sure you have closed everything out and will never reopen it. For instance, you might have taken deductions for equipment that depreciates over multiple years. Even if you took the whole deduction in the first year, that equipment still belongs to the business until it is disposed of. Because of things like this, it is generally best to keep filing once you start until you are sure you're done, and then to make sure you properly close everything out. Of course, these days if there is little money involved, you can guess that this will never be audited, so it's not something to lose sleep over! Remember the IRS is not about making sure everyone is a great accountant, but rather collecting money owed for taxes :-).

[Carl]

A status of "inactive" and a status of "closed" are two completely different things. If your business was not reported as "closed, sold or otherwise disposed of" on your 2018 return, then you still need to report it on your 2019 return.

This is especially important if any of the following are true:

 - Your business had an inventory balance greater than $0 on Dec 31 of 2018.

 - Your business claimed any vehicle use since you opened it (the year doesn't matter), even if that vehicle use was less than 100%.

 - Your business claimed any assets that would be listed in the Business Assets section - even if those assets are already fully depreciated.

If any of the above are true and you don't file SCH C with your 2019 tax return, you can expect to be audited on it about 24-36 months after you file the return without the SCH C.