You can't choose to claim your Schedule C losses in a different year. Normally, a business loss reduces your other taxable income in the year that it occurred, and there is no carryover.
But you could have a carryback/carryover if you had an actual Net Operating Loss (NOL). If you had a negative taxable income in 2017 before considering personal exemptions, you might have had an NOL for 2017.Generally, if you have an NOL for a tax year ending in 2017, you must carry back the entire amount of the NOL to the 2 tax years before the NOL year (the carryback period), and then carry forward any remaining NOL for up to 20 years after the NOL year (the carryforward period). You can, however, choose not to carry back an NOL and only carry it forward.
See this link to IRS Publication 536, Net Operating Losses (NOLs) for Individuals, Estates, and Trusts. The calculation is one that you will have to do on your own, using IRS Form 1045. It doesn't automatically carry forward or back to other tax years.
In any case, you would start this calculation by claiming all of your allowable expenses in the year in which they were incurred, 2017.
To find the NOL section of TurboTax, type NOL in the search box in the upper right hand corner of your screen. Then click "Jump To" to be directed to that section. See the screenshot below.
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
