>Don’t complete Schedule SE. Instead, attach a copy of the statement to Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR and enter "Exempt, see attached statement" on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4.”
This seems to be the correct answer for the original poster's question (eteraoka)? But I am not an expert. I just spent a few hours researching this and it looks like the right way to fix the automatic overcharging of self-employment tax by Turbotax when it should not be charged if you're in a country with a "Totalization" agreement.
It seems to me the only the way to correct it is:
Go to Forms view in Turbotax, open "Sch SE-T" and set (Edit->Override) line 12, "Self-employment tax. Add lines 10 and 11. Enter here and on Schedule 2 (Form 1040) line 4." to zero (and Sched. SE-T also drops away from the final printout). That 0 gets carried over to Schedule 2 and then on Sched 2 line 4 you have to handwrite on the printout, "Exempt, see attached statement" and attach some kind of "certificate" from the country you're in about paying social security there. The certificate part seems _very_ nebulous to me and when I asked in my country the only thing they could provide was a printout of my payments for the past year, not really an official statement of coverage, but proof in some sense. They didn't seem to have any experience providing such a proof before.
But, like I say, I could be totally wrong. I just found no other/better answer.
Here are some references on the topic which seem to indicate the above approach:
https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/switzrld.html#elim_self
https://www.myexpattaxes.com/expat-tax-tips/self-employment/self-employment-taxes-for-americans-abro...
https://www.myexpattaxes.com/expat-tax-tips/featured/21-things-to-know-about-us-expat-taxes-in-2021
https://www.hrblock.com/expat-tax-preparation/resource-center/income/foreign/social-security-self-em...
https://www.cpasforexpats.com/post/self-employment-as-a-us-expat
https://www.artiopartners.com/blog/social-security-benefits-living-abroad
https://expatfile.tax/foreign-earned-income-exclusion
https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/blog/us-switzerland-totalization-agreement-overview-for-expats
https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040sse
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/self-employment-tax-for-businesses-abroad
https://citizenshiptaxation.wordpress.com/2016/07/24/chapter-10-paying-into-social-security-american...
Turbotax really drops the ball here again for people living abroad and does not handle this simple and common expat situation--it should know of the totalization agreement countries and just do it automatically, maybe asking a few questions if need be. Or is that asking too much?
