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Returning Member
posted Jul 15, 2019 9:42:39 AM

Carry over startup costs to profitable year?

We have a business that is just getting started, and will have probably 3 to 4k in startup costs. I know the limit is 5k, but we do not want to amortize that out over 15 years yet we won't have an income this year.  How do we save these write-offs for next year when we have profit?  

 

Also, what about any tools or equipment that are not considered startup costs but needed to do the work? These too would be less than $5k.

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3 Replies
Level 2
Jul 15, 2019 11:19:33 AM

Write off up to 5k in startup costs in the first year because they offset your other income if you have no income from the business. Likewise with the tools or equipment you can use expensing and write them off now and operating losses not offset carry over to following years.

Returning Member
Jul 15, 2019 1:12:13 PM

Can you elaborate more on your second sentence? We don't want to expense them this year, preferably next year.

Level 2
Jul 16, 2019 7:54:36 PM

You can use first year expensing or you can also choose to depreciate the property over their class lives and that looks like 5 years......you must take these deductions starting in the first year of use.