Filing Taxes 2018 with LLC (Beginner Question)

[Tim Ivory]

Hi, guys! I still need to file taxes for 2018. I also have a new LLC but did not make any money this year. I remember reading that I can simply complete my normal tax form and that will also count toward my single member run LLC. Is this true? Is there another form I need to include?

[Linda Weygant]

@Tim Ivory ....dude.... you are ALL over the place on this.

E-Filing and then sending in an additional form is almost never a thing and you have GOT to slow down on this whole process.  You've jumped in with both feet and, I get it.... you're far from shore and you're just trying to do whatever it takes to end the process and get it finished.

But you're doing this at your own detriment and you should thank your lucky stars that your E-File was rejected because you're just mashing buttons at this point and you're about to get yourself in trouble.

Back up and just stop.

Here are some statements you've made.  

I've had no income and I don't have to file if I made less than $400.

Which is it?  You had no income or you had less than $400.  The $400 mark means nothing for filing or not.  That is the level at which you may or may not owe Self Employment taxes.  And that's profit, not income.

So.... if you had no income - zero, zilch, nada, nothing then it is HIGHLY likely that you are not "in business". 

Whether or not you are "in business" depends on a whole host of factors such as the level of activity and effort you are putting in to get this thing off the ground. Are you advertising? Are you building relationships with potential customers, vendors, lenders, etc? Do you work at this every day and is it your sole effort activity? Or do you have another job and this is something you kinda maybe though about sorta doing as a side hustle, but you don't really work it much and you don't have anything to show for it except a pile of business cards and an idle LLC.

So let's say you're "in business" and you have some expenses to write off.  First of all, kiss your free E-File goodbye.  This is also not the first time you will open up your wallet to pay for services.  That's what being a business and being a professional is all about.  Trying to manipulate your tax return so you can still qualify for the free E-file doesn't serve you at all and it's why you ended up in a situation where you're mailing in a document that the IRS will likely just shred.  Trust me on this - there is no IRS person just sitting around, looking at loose schedules and then scanning them in somewhere and adding them to your E-File.

Sorry - got derailed.

So if you're in business, then you fill out the Schedule C (assuming you're a single member LLC, not a mulit-member LLC) appropriately listing your legitimate business income and deductions.

If you're not in business, then there's nothing to file, so delete the Schedule C from your file and move on with your life.

But all y'all gotta stop half assing your taxes when you start investing.  You end up screwing yourselves over so bad and there are tax professionals out there that will charge you an absolute boatload of money to get it fixed.

There are an equal number of professionals who will help you file correctly for something way less than a boatload.

I have seen SO many F'd up tax returns this year that were completed with TurboTax or by "tax preparers" at Block or Liberty or taxshopinthestripmall and it's just really frustrating to watch people do their taxes with a shotgun.

Do it right or don't do it at all.

/rant