Business loss

Not really.  A business loss occurs when your business has more expenses than earnings during an accounting period. The loss means that you spent more than the amount of revenue you made.

Enter the expenses you incurred for this project along with other expenses of your business.  TurboTax will subtract them from any income your business generates and determine if you have a loss for the year.

To include expenses for your business please follow these steps (in TurboTax Self-Employed):

1. Click on Income and Expenses and then click the Start/Revisit box in the Self-Employment section.
2. If you haven't yet entered information on your business, you should see a screen, Tell us the type of self-employment work you do.  Enter a description of your work, for example dog training, graphic design, etc.)
3. If you are filing a joint return, indicate whether the business belongs to you or your spouse and click Continue.
4. Proceed through the screens, entering the requested information.
5. When you have completed the interview, you will be brought to the Here's your [business] info screen, where you can enter more information on your business, like income, expenses, assets, etc.
6. On the Here's your [business] info screen, click on the box Add expenses for this work. 
7. On the Tell us about any expenses screen, scroll down through the categories, mark the appropriate radio button and click Continue at the bottom of the screen.
8. You will be returned to the Expenses screen so you can select another expense category.