If you have self-employment expenses to claim from starting your business, but no income, you will need to file those expenses on Schedule C Business Income and Expenses. Form 1099-NEC would not be required.
Use the following steps to go to the Schedule C section of your return to enter your information:
- On the top row of the TurboTax online screen, click on Search (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax locate the search box in the upper right corner)
- This opens a box where you can type in “schedule c” and click the magnifying glass (or for CD/downloaded TurboTax, click Find)
- The search results will give you an option to “Jump to schedule c”
- Click on the blue “Jump to schedule c” link
Be aware that you will need to use either TurboTax Online Self-Employed or one of the CD/downloaded versions of TurboTax to claim self-employment expenses.