@ColleenB thank you for all the information you have provided in your reply. I humbly say , I think that I understand the scenario/situation:
1. Per IRS definition you consider yourself to be an employee of a foreign entity in a foreign country with whom US has no tax treaty.
2. As an employee , SSA told you that you cannot pay employer share of the FICA -- generally true at least for employees based in the USA ( except for US citizen employed by foreign consulates / embassies in the USA ).
3. You do not know how to file a schedule-C -- if you were to be considered as self-employed for US tax purposes since you do not have a single LLC or similar "dis-regarded" entity.
There are two things you have to do here ---
(a) Tell TurboTax that you have Self-Employed income. This will open questions to fill out a Schedule-C { this is used by sole proprietor/ self-employed and US Citizen/resident employees of foreign govt. and some international organizations ). You can expense allowable expenses associated with this income stream ( if any ). This will result in Schedule-SE being opened so your tax bill includes SECA ( 100% FICA for self-employed ) taxes.
(b) you then also have to tell TurboTax that you have foreign earned income -- questions/guidance help you fill out form 2555. Assuming that you qualify Physical Presence Test, you will be eligible for Foreign Earned Income exclusion -- thus reducing US tax bite. Generally foreign earned income exclusion is meant to ameliorate the double taxation -- in cases where the foreign taxing authority taxes the income. However, thought many of the Middle Eastern countries do not have personal income tax for expats. So this could be windfall for you.
Does this now make sense ? Do you need more help ?
pk
