My spouse started working on their new startup (self-employment) in March 2022. The business is an online business and didn't actually "open its door" until October 2022.
In the "Expenses" section for this business, it should be possible to list costs my spouse incurred between March - October as "startup costs." When putting in the business details, we put March 2022 as the date the work started. But, when trying to put these startup costs in, TurboTax Online rejects this and says these occurred after the business started. I think it's assuming the date work started is the same as the date the business opened — but these are not the same in this case. March is the date the work started. October is the date the business opened.
If I simply change the date the work started to October, that allows me to insert the startup costs — but, then TurboTax doesn't allow us to claim the home deduction going back to March, when the work actually started. So basically because TurboTax is treating work-start as equal to business-open, it seems like we either have to not deduct the startup costs, or not deduct the home office.
What is the right way to insert the dates into TurboTax to be able to get both the startup costs and home office deducted — both which my spouse qualifies for?
