Sounds like last year you may have the Free File website and not Turbo Tax Free Edition. There are 2 different Free versions. Turbo Tax Free Edition and the IRS Free File website. If you don't qualify for the Free File website you might be able to use Turbo Tax Free Edition. Although the Free Edition is limited in other ways. The IRS Free File website has more schedules (like Schedule C) than Turbo Tax Free Edition.
If you need to file Schedule C (and it sounds like you do) You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe or Premier but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Self Employed version.
How to enter income from Self Employment
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...
You need to enter ALL your income even if you do not get a 1099NEC or 1099Misc. Just enter it as Other self employment income or as Cash or General income. You don't need to get a 1099NEC or 1099K. Even if you did you can enter all your income as Cash. Only the total goes to schedule C.
Here is some general self employment info.
You use your own records. You are considered self employed and have to fill out a schedule C for business income. You use your own name, address and ssn or business name and EIN if you have one. You should say you use the Cash Accounting Method and all income is At Risk.
After it asks if you received any 1099Misc or 1099NEC it will ask if you had any income not reported on a 1099Misc. You should be keeping your own records. Just go through the interview and answer the questions. Then you will enter your expenses.
Self Employment tax (Scheduled SE) is automatically generated if a person has $400 or more of net profit from self-employment. You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit greater than $400. The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare. So you get social security credit for it when you retire.
The SE tax is already included in your tax due or reduced your refund. It is on the 1040 Schedule 2 line 4 which goes to 1040 line 15. The SE tax is in addition to your regular income tax on the net profit. You do get to take off the 50% ER portion of the SE tax as an adjustment on 1040 Schedule 1 line 14 which flows to 1040 line 8a. Turbo Tax automatically calculates the SE Tax and Adjustment.
Here is some IRS reading material……
IRS information on Self Employment
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Self-Employed-Individuals-Tax-Center
Pulication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf
Publication 535 Business Expenses
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf
