Made no profit this year should I still file taxes?

[Tinia James]

I started dabbling in wholesaling a few months ago,I do not have an LLC. I haven't made any profit yet and I'm wondering if I should still file taxes for my "business ".

[Michael Plaks]

Quote from @Tinia James:

I started dabbling in wholesaling a few months ago,I do not have an LLC. I haven't made any profit yet and I'm wondering if I should still file taxes for my "business ".

I assume that when you say "I made no profit" you mean you did not have any deals. A more accurate way to describe it is "I received no income" - because you can have deals but still have no profit if your expenses are greater than your income.

If you were actively looking for deals (and can document it) - as opposed to merely planning to start later - then you file Schedule C and claim business expanses such as marketing, driving, technology and so on. 

Warning: Schedules C claiming expenses without any income are not against the rules, but they are IRS audit flags.