How can I skip a Schedule C for 2021?

[jamesgrogers.cpa]

My client has a business teaching music.  Thanks mostly to Covid, she took the year 2021 off but plans to restart in the late spring or early summer of 2022, so I'd like to skip 2021 but not delete the Schedule C.

[IRonMaN]

The software won't let you just ignore the form?  If not, how about if you enter zero for sales?

[jamesgrogers.cpa]

I tried entering $0 in income, but that doesn’t work.  The error notice says there has to be at least $1 of income.  Entering that clears the error message and doesn’t increase the client’s tax liability.  I can then add a $1 miscellaneous expense item to reduce the Schedule C’s net income back to $0.  This seems very hokey to me.  Surely, there’s a way to “Skip this year.”  There’s a place to do that with pension income reported on Form 1099-R.

[itonewbie]

Try this.  On that Sch C, on the Business Information tab, under the General Information section, on the line for "1=delete this year, 2=delete next year", enter 1.  That should do the trick.

Here's what you should also take note of:

1) Depreciation: You may like to override the depreciation of any related assets since depreciation will still be computed in spite of Sch C being removed for the year.  If the asset is retired, you should then enter a date instead.

2) Rollover: If you enter 1 to delete this year, the activity won't be rolled over.  If you want the data to be rolled over, make sure you remove your entry for delete this year before the rollover.  I know, it's a bummer.  But that's how dumb smart the system is.

[IRonMaN]

@itonewbie 

Nice to see your smiley face here ---------- it's been a long time 😁

[itonewbie]

Thanks, @IRonMaN!  There's a glitch in a return I am preparing and still can't get that it resolved.  That reminds me of this little community we have, lol!

[IRonMaN]

If you spell glitch backwards, it spells Intuit.  Well, at least it does if you can't spell very well.

[itonewbie]

That's how I spell glitch as well.  Did it not come across that way in my typing? 😂