dmertz
Level 15

Retirement tax questions

At some point you must have marked the Maximize box for a SEP contribution and that remains marked.  You are correct that TurboTax does not enforce the employer contribution limit across both SEP and 401(k) plans.  It instead just calculates the maximum permissible deduction under the assumption that you are eligible to make employee elective deferrals to the 401(k).  When you enter an amount in the profit-sharing box TurboTax is adding that to the maximum SEP contribution that is resulting from having marked the Maximize box for the SEP.

 

Just leave marked the Maximize box for a SEP contribution and enter nothing for an individual 401(k), then verify that the amount on Schedule 1 line 16 is correct.