LLC

[Blancas64]

I am helping my friend file his income taxes - he and his wife created an LLC in 2018 - 50/50 ownership.  They only had about $800 in expenses and no income in 2018.  Can I use the TurboTax Home & Business software to file his taxes?

[Opus 17]

No for one or maybe two reasons.

First, unless they live in a community property state, an LLC with more than one member must file a form 1065 partnership return, using Turbotax Business.  This is a separate program only available to install on PC, it is not available online or for Mac.  The 1065 return will create a K-1 statement for each member that goes on their personal tax return.  The filing deadline for form 1065 is March 15, not April 15, and the late fee is $195 per month per member.

If they live in a community property state, they can file as two disregarded entities--each spouse files a schedule C using the Home & Business or Self-employed online version, one schedule C in the name of each spouse, each listing half the income and half the expenses.

Second, if you have startup costs but no gross income, you don't file this year at all.  The first year the business files is when they have gross income.  The startup costs are either expensed, or amortized over 15 years, depending on the amount and nature of the costs.