Questions right before e-filing with no explanation!

[IHaveABigQuestion]

During the "e-filing" part of the TurboTax Business software I was given the follow 4 questions with no explanation from TurboTax:

The IRS requires the following information when filing electronically.

1. Claiming Officer Compensation in this return (Yes/No)

2. Number of Officers with Compensation (expects a number)

3. Number of Employee W2s issued for 2023 (expects a number)

4. Informational Returns (W-2, 1099, K-1's, etc.) filed under the return employer ID number (Yes/No)

I am the only owner/officer/employee of my S corp and issued myself a W-2. Can someone please confirm that the 4 answers are: Yes, 1, 0, Yes

Can you further explain why number three doesn't say OTHER than the owner/employee (since W2 owners are employees of their company)? It makes me uneasy about selecting 0 since a W2 was in fact issued. Or is that what question 4 is for, to say there was a W2 issued to the officer? And what does "return" employer mean? Confused about the word return there. Can someone please explain. Yes I know there is another thread where others have asked about this page but my particular questions are still not answered so I would appreciate any help since the deadline is soon!!

[JamesG1]

IRS Instructions for form 1120-S, page 17, requires that compensation for the owner be segregated from the wages of other employees.  These questions are trying to determine whether the W-2 wages that were reported belonged to the owner or the owner's employees.

Enter on line 7 the total compensation of all officers paid or incurred in the trade or business activities of the corporation. The corporation determines who is an officer under the laws of the state where it is incorporated. 

Enter on line 8 the total salaries and wages paid or incurred to employees (other than officers) during the tax year.

It sounds like the answer to (3) should be '1' but you should review your entries under Compensation and Benefits under Federal Taxes and Deductions.

[IHaveABigQuestion]

Thank you for your response but this is exactly why Turbo Tax needs official instructions. Still no one has answered what question 4 means, and your response to question 3 appears to conflict with Turbo Tax Experts

@DianeC958

@DawnC

@gloriah5200

@KathrynG3

@JulieS

On this thread: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/business-taxes/discussion/how-to-respond-to-turbo-tax-s-question-r...

And the person who started that thread said Turbo Tax experts were giving conflicting responses on another thread about this same page. It’s seems no one is really sure what to do here, even you said “It sounds like the answer should be...”. None of us wants to just guess that we are picking the right responses. We don’t play around when it comes to doing our taxes correctly. We need to know exactly what the instructions are since it says “The IRS requires the following information when filing” and none of us wants to trigger an error with the IRS. I don't feel like this is too much to ask. We all need an official response from someone who knows exactly what the instructions are for each of these vague questions. Please escalate to someone who knows exactly what to do here!

@tagteam , @dmertz

Can anyone help?

[RobertB4444]

The answers for you are Yes, 1, 0, Yes.

The reason these questions are here are for S-corporations that are a lot bigger and messier than yours.  Yours is just the one W2 in addition to the 1120-S so it's not a lot of paperwork.  But this efile key is still required.  And still not a big deal.  You are an officer, not an employee.  That makes these answers pretty easy.

@IHaveABigQuestion