Start date of consulting LLC

[madarahr]

I was laid-off from work in May 2019 and started my own professional consulting in September 2019 and am under a contract now.  However, during the time I was unemployed, I took professional courses related to my line of work to enhance my competitiveness which eventually helped me secure a consulting role.  Are these courses tax deductible ?  If so, are these considered start-up costs of my LLC ? Or can I shift my start date of business (for tax purposes) to the day I started taking courses for the sake of simplicity and deduct them as expenses ?  The business entity filing date was in September 2019 but I had begun taking courses in the same line of work in June 2019. 

[ColeenD3]

You can't backdate the business to be able to take the expense. If you took college courses, you might be eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit.

Here are the rules for work-related education.

You can deduct the costs of qualifying work-related education as business expenses. This is education that meets at least one of the following two tests.

• The education is required by your employer or the law to keep your present salary, status, or job. The required education must serve a bona fide business purpose of your employer.
• The education maintains or improves skills needed in your present work.

However, even if the education meets one or both of the above tests, it isn't qualifying work-related education if it:

•  Is needed to meet the minimum educational requirements of your present trade or business, or
• Is part of a program of study that will qualify you for a new trade or business.