Carl
Level 15

Investors & landlords

Based on the fact you are being asked for a "business name", it appears that you are incorrectly reporting rental income in the business income (SCH C) section of the program. That's wrong. All rental income and expenses is reported in the Rental & Royalty Income (SCH E) section of the program.

If you are self-employed (and I think you are not) then all business income/expenses is reported on SCH C. The SCH C is for "EARNED" income. While rental income is a form of business income, it is not earned income. It's passive income.

Earned Income - Money you are paid for "doing something" usually on a recurring basis. This money gets reported on SCH C. SCH C income is subject to normal taxes *and* the additional 15.3% self-employment tax.

Passive Income - This is rental or royalty income (and there are other types). For this money, all you do is "sit there" and collect it each payment period. You don't go out and actually "do" anything to earn it. This income is reported on SCH E. Rental income is passive income. While it is subject to "normal" taxes, it is *not* subject to the additional 15.3% self-employment tax.

Since you didn't indicate what version (online or CD) or flavor of TurboTax you are using, it's rather time consuming to cover all the ways of getting to the rental income/expenses section. But regardless of what version and flavor you're using, if you work through the program start to finish the way it's designed and intended to be used, you will eventually come to it.