If someone with high W2 income filed taxes as married filing jointly and included Schedule C (as sole proprietorship) on their taxes last 2 years—reported no income, but deducted some small losses as part of setting up the business. It was part of launching a startup of creating a social media business, but failed to monetize and have no intentions to continue on with this business as the potential reward is not worth their time. They are thinking of starting a new business in real-estate with their spouse this year. So, last year (2022), they were fully engrossed in their W2 job and there virtually was no activity on the earlier business for which they filed the Schedule C.
Can they just stop including Schedule C going forward, or would doing so trigger an IRS audit, which is not fun? What other options do they have - such as continue reporting Schedule C with no income and no losses?
