Retirement tax questions


@tgad1000 wrote:

she usually gets the turbo tax business premium, is that good enough? she is planning to file her company as S corp. Any recommendation?


To file an S-corp, she needs Turbotax Business, this is a separate program from the personal version of Turbotax and will only report the S-corp.  Turbotax Business is only available on PC, not Mac and not online.  The 1120S is due March 15, not April 15, and there is a substantial late penalty unless she gets an extension.  She will get a K-1 form as part of preparing the business return that lists her participation in the business, including any profit sharing.

 

Note that as an S-corp, your wife must pay herself a fair salary for her participation on a W-2, with tax withholding for federal and state income tax and social security and medicare tax.  She can't take no salary and pay out everything as profits or dividends.  She must pay herself a fair salary first, and then she can take profits or dividends. 

 

Then, when you prepare your personal tax return (form 1040 plus attachments) you will need Turbotax Self Employed (if filing online), or Turbotax Deluxe or higher if using the desktop program.  (In the desktop program, the Home & Business version has more built-in guidance for your self-employment, but Deluxe has all the forms you need.)  Your personal 1040 will include your wife's W-2, any W-2 or other income you have, your dependents and deductions, and a schedule C for your consulting business.  There will be no schedule C for your wife.  Instead, she will enter the K-1 that was created as part of her business return (and her W-2).