Expenses when closing self-employment business

[sploosh]

For many years I've provided a writing, editing and research service (no employees, no physical assets, and without a separable home office). I decided to stop, and finished my last contracted work at the end of July.

• I assume that I can deduct most expenses before that date, including (for example) six months of long-term care insurance. Do I also split up Medicare premiums, or should I just treat those all as Sch A? (I'm not sure why, but I used Sch A last year.)
• Do I include things like tickets for conferences that I paid for before I finished, but the event occurred afterwards?
• I had net operating losses during the past couple of years, and probably will for 2024. Am I allowed to deduct those over the next few years, and if so, how? (I know there's a limit on the amount per year.) I can't tell if TT is even tracking my NOL.

[MarilynG1 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can claim your self-employment expenses up to the time you ended your business.  If you want to include expenses for a conference you attended,  you may want to state the business closing date as occurring after the conference, if you have related travel expenses.  

TurboTax will automatically put Medicare premiums on Schedule A unless you enter them on Schedule C as a business expense. The premiums can't exceed your net business income, so if you had a loss, stick to Schedule A. 

If you had a Net Operating Loss, you need to enter the amount yourself; TurboTax does not calculate it for you, but does calculate it in your return when you enter it.  You can carry forward your loss until it is used up. NOL is limited to 80% of the taxable income that year. 

Type 'NOL' in the Search area to get to this section of the program.  You may want to go back to the year you first had an NOL and Amend to add it, then you can carry forward from there.

See IRS Publication 536 for details. 

[sploosh]

Thanks, that's very helpful!