How can I amortize start up costs if I didn't start the company yet and only have misc. expenses not official start up costs? (won't let me delete schedule C)

[keeganlimbrick]

So I have invested in misc. expenses for day trading that I will be starting (2018) but made purchases last year (2017) that I would like to claim. I was going to claim them as start up expenses but determined misc. to be the proper way to file, however now it will not let me delete the start up costs section and is requiring me to amortize start up costs (totaling 0) and requesting the start date which there is not one as it was not started in 2017 and hasn't yet been started still.  Should I just put whatever date in there and file with it all blank or is there a way for me to delete this other than clicking the garbage can icon (it just states we are encountering an issue and then leaves it in there.)

[AmandaR1]

You cannot claim any expenses if the business hasn't started yet. All expenses that are normally deductible are capitalized as startup costs. This means that your startup costs are tracked and totaled as an asset in your business. 

When the business starts, you can begin deducting the startup costs for that year. If these are costs associated with purchasing securities and investments, these amounts are capitalized in your basis in the assets and should not be expensed. Instead, business income or loss is calculated on each sale.  

In regards to the software, yes, you can answer anything to move forward (or just click back) and then press the Delete icon when back at the summary screen. When you edit your self-employed income and expenses, you can delete the entire business the same way.