I am helping my mother prepare a joint return for her and her spouse who passed away in 2019.
He was self-employed and every year filed a Schedule C for his business income and expenses.
He passed in February, but had accrued expenses already for the business in 2019 (office, car, phone, etc). He had not made any income yet as the business tended not to produce income from clients until mid-year. Therefore the business operated at a loss for 2019.
I see no reason why we can't file the Schedule C showing this loss since it was accrued. I believe my mother should be able to use these loses to offset their other personal income for the year and I can't find anything saying this is not allowed.
Is this acceptable?
