I see no place to do this in Income & Expenses. It was clear in years past but for 2017 I see no way to enter refunds or "returns and allowances". The instructions for finding "Income You Gave Back" I found when searching are unclear.
I was able to find where to enter this.
Go to Income & Expenses then continue to where you enter income and expenses for your business. Click Add income for this work then choose "Rebates/refunds paid. Report any income returned to customers”. "Learn more" by that options says this:
“This is money you received but then gave back to a customer—a refund for a returned item, a rebate, or a discount. This isn't considered income, but it does need to be reported on your taxes.”
Perfect. After doing this, when you go to Business Summary and click on Details by Income, it shows the amount you entered as “Returns and allowances” which is called rebates/refunds when you add it.
I was able to find where to enter this.
Go to Income & Expenses then continue to where you enter income and expenses for your business. Click Add income for this work then choose "Rebates/refunds paid. Report any income returned to customers”. "Learn more" by that options says this:
“This is money you received but then gave back to a customer—a refund for a returned item, a rebate, or a discount. This isn't considered income, but it does need to be reported on your taxes.”
Perfect. After doing this, when you go to Business Summary and click on Details by Income, it shows the amount you entered as “Returns and allowances” which is called rebates/refunds when you add it.
That's definitely a different label for it. Back in 2012 or 13 when I had to refund a customer, it was clearly labled "Returns & Allowances" in the desktop version of Premier.
I just am not able to find this options. Any suggestions on how to find this would be helpful
@iyer.vaidy perhaps you're not using the online version of Self-Employed as the original poster that started this thread is? That's the only reason I can think of as to why the instructions provided by @steven may not be working for you.
@iyer.vaidy @jennaps Did you ever find it? They’ve been working on it. It might be because of the 6 digit Business Code. Did you enter one? So far they found it doesn’t show up if you entered 999999
It doesn't work for us either. Options end at "uncommon income" there is no 4th button for refund/rebates. Really wish this would get fixed!
Finally spoke w/ someone on phone. They had NO option except adding this expense to "other expenses". I do not want my profit/loss statement to show zero on refunds and allowances and then have a much larger number in "other expenses" than previous years. The line on profit/loss statement exists for a reason, and TurboTax needs to get this fixed. I don't have any further time to invest in this - so I switched to H&R online. The refunds/allowances option exists on that system and I was able to get self-employed for $60 with a coupon code. Turbotax offered to send us software to do it by PAPER if we would pay for it. No thanks, just fix your system!
A vast majority of the employess providing support (both phone and in this forum) are temp hires for the tax season, and the training they received is not as comprehensive as it really needs to be.
I'm using the desktop verison of Home & Business, which is the same as the online version of Self-Employed. For me, in the "Business Income" section there are four items listed.
- 1099 Misc Income
- General Income
- Other Income
- Income You Gave Back <<-------------------------------------------------------------------
It would appear they've renamed Returns & Allowances.
Carl, Some people (like me) dont have the 4th option at all. Its just not there.
If you're using the online version, then more than likely it's on another screen somewhere. I would expect it to be in the section where you report business income. But expectations aren't always what we think.
Overall though, before reporting it in Misc Expenses, I'd just reduce the business income by the amount that was refunded.
I found a different way to do what I needed for my situation. My question may not have been clear.
Where did you put it? Under the expenses under “other?”
@Anonymous What is missing? And are you using the Online Self Employed version or the Desktop Home & Business program? I can check both. I have Windows Home & Business and an online test account.
Hi VolvoGirl-
I'm looking for this answer too. I'm using the online self employed version. Added the 1099k and cash from my business, but don't see where I put the discounts and returns. It's the last step and then I'm free, free, free from this arduous task for another year! Thank you-
You add business expenses in the Self-Employment subcategory under Income & Expenses. You may not see the specific expense you are looking for, but at the bottom of the expense list, select Add expenses for this work to enter your discount and return information.
Thank you, but I'm referring to when a customer returns an item, and in other instances, discounts given for other sales. Gross sales are what appear in box 1a on the 1099K, and I need to get the returns and discounts off the taxable amount (gross) because these dollar values never became income. (Merchandise was returned to the business and discounts were given.) Or should I simply subtract the returns, discounts and comps for the year off the gross and input that total?
As @GeorgeM777 pointed out, you can treat the discounts and returns as an expense instead of altering the 1099-K gross income reported to you. The result is the same, without paying taxes on the money you did not make, and without showing discrepancies between the amount reported to the IRS on the 1099-K form and the amount you reported on your tax return.
@Q1misery1
ok, thank you to both of you! it was confusing to me whether expenses are a dollar for dollar reduction in taxable income, or just a partial reduction.
Hi. No matter what number I put under the income section for Refunds and Rebates section - It does not change my net income/loss - meaning the refunds I sent to customers are still being counted as income I made. What am I doing wrong here