Bug: Sechedule SE line 18 won't accept an appropriate number

[Cal-questions]

Dear Dawn C,

It does not work to leave that field blank. It doesn't work with zero either. I have tried it all by myself and twice with TurboTax experts and now they say I am on a 'to be notified' list which TurboTax finds a fix to the glitch. Yes, it is very annoying but what can I do?  If you have some magic, I am interested. 

CM

[JamesG1]

Perhaps this will help.  The self-employment tax deferral may have been selected unintentionally. 

In some cases, you may need to add temporary income to your self-employment activity to generate a balance due and allow you to access the self-employment tax deferral questions. 

In TurboTax Online Self-Employed, I was able to remove self-employment tax deferral and pass Review.  Follow these steps.

• Down the left side of the screen, click on Federal.
• Across the top of the screen, click on Deductions  & credits.
• Under Your tax breaks, scroll down to Self-employment tax deferral.
• Click on Edit/Add to the right of Self-employment tax deferral.
• At the screen Do you want more time to pay your self-employment tax?, click Yes.
• At the screen Let's start by getting your eligible income, I have left the dollar amount that was previously entered, others change this amount to $0.
• Click on Continue.
• At the screen Tell us how much you'd like to defer, delete the dollar amount.
• Click Continue.
• Click through Federal Review to make sure than the Review issue has been removed.
• At the screen Some of your self-employment taxes may be eligible, click Skip. 

The self-employment tax deferral is an optional benefit.  It is also a deferral rather than forgiveness, so those amounts will eventually need to be repaid. Half of the deferred amount is due on December 31, 2021, and the other half is due on December 31, 2022.

[Cal-questions]

Dear JamesG1 and Turbo Community,

Thank you for your advice.  However, I tried it and it does not work since we have an overall tax refund on our federal taxes so it will not accept for me to defer the Self-Employment tax for my wife. (Mine has no problem since due to other self-earnings I don’t have a negative self-employment earnings.) So WHAT CAN I DO TO FIX THIS ERROR? The delay is costly since we wanted to file and use our low 2020 income for the new Covid stimulus payment.

Please help us find a solution.

Thanks,

Cal

[JamesG1]

@Cal-questions

Are you able to add a large amount of temporary income to the self-employment activity?  Hopefully that will generate:

• A balance due on the tax return, and
• Potentially, a large SE tax deferral.

Then

• Run through the self-employment tax deferral interview questions. 
• Review the tax return. 
• Remove the temporary income. 
• Review the tax return a final time. 

I have had luck with this method.

Follow these steps.

• Down the left side of the screen, click on Federal.
• Across the top of the screen, click on Deductions  & credits.
• Under Your tax breaks, scroll down to Self-employment tax deferral.
• Click on Edit/Add to the right of Self-employment tax deferral.
• At the screen Do you want more time to pay your self-employment tax?, click Yes.
• At the screen Let's start by getting your eligible income, I have left the dollar amount that was previously entered, others change this amount to $0.
• Click on Continue.
• At the screen Tell us how much you'd like to defer, delete the dollar amount.
• Click Continue.
• Click through Federal Review to make sure than the Review issue has been removed.
• At the screen Some of your self-employment taxes may be eligible, click Skip. 

The self-employment tax deferral is an optional benefit.  It is also a deferral rather than forgiveness, so those amounts will eventually need to be repaid. Half of the deferred amount is due on December 31, 2021, and the other half is due on December 31, 2022.

[Sharla]

I had the exact same issue.  My business made money and my husband's lost money, so mine was fine and his kept getting stuck at line 18 of the SE form.  I ended up making sure that was the only error, then blanking out line 18 and not re-running the check.  When I reviewed my return before filing, my form SE was in the package and there was not one there for my husband.  That was fine since he did not owe any SE tax.  I made sure that nothing was showing as being deferred for either of us and sent it in.  I did also try all the suggested fixes, even the adding a large amount of income, then saying no to the deferral, then putting in a number for line 18, then taking the income back out, etc. and that did not work for me.  I also tried deleting the form, but the error check put it back and wanted a number.  Blanking out the field and ignoring the error is all I could do - that seems to have worked fine.

[JamesG1]

@Sharla

Are you using an Online version or a Desktop version?

If the self-employment tax deferral was selected for the self-employment activity that is now reporting a loss for the year, adding temporary income to that self-employment activity allows you to access the self-employment tax deferral interview questions.

If the self-employment tax deferral was selected for the self-employment activity that is now reporting a profit for the year, you may be able to access the the self-employment tax deferral interview questions without adding temporary income.

In TurboTax Online Self-Employed, follow Federal / Deductions & Credits / Self Employed tax deferral.

Some believe that at the screen Let's start by getting your eligible income, it makes a difference whether you:

• Delete the entry, rather than
• Entering a zero.

At the screen Tell us how much you'd like to defer a delete versus a zero may also make a difference.

Your self-employment income may be eligible for a portion of your self-employment tax to be deferred.  See this TurboTax Help.

[Sharla]

I am using the desktop version.  But, it is all a moot point now.  I completed and submitted my taxes.  I did try the solutions - I added more income to the business in question, I tried blanking and zeros, I deleted the form, none of the suggestions worked.  My other business is not eligible for deferred SE Taxes since they were paid in throughout the year already.  Thanks for trying, but I just forged ahead and ignored the error and sent it in.