What? SE-T Max Deferral LINE 18 wants me to fill it in and I have no idea how or why!

[PDSnickles]

Just wanted people to know that I followed the advice of creating a $100k income, going through the form for that, then deleting it, as @KathrynG3 said.
That did work.
I received my refund a few days ago.

However, the fact I had to spend about 10 or more hours on here trying to figure out which of the several workarounds to use, then having to worry about whether it was right or not, is UNACCEPTABLE. Especially since this problem was reported at the end of January and as far as I know they still have not fixed the bug in their online software!

Also who knows if it really worked (I'm not guaranteeing it by any means!) or if some dead head sleepy IRS person just looked at my return and let it go based on how little money I made last year...

I just can't say for sure.
So I will not say "do it the way I did it because it worked".

Instead I will say USE ANOTHER SERVICE , as I will be doing from now on, because it is unacceptable to PAY over $100 for a service that doesn't work the way it's supposed to and have to spend YOUR TIME AND ENERGY figuring out how to "mickey mouse" or "workaround" the problem and then worry over whether or not it will be accepted and "passed" or not!

The only way I'll come back to TT is if they find this thread and offer me a free return next year. (I know they won't but they really should. ) Even if it were FREE, it's not worth the pain and suffering of having the software not work right.

[sade hurst]

Guys try this, it worked for me!

DELETE ALL ENTRIES IN THE BOX AND THEN TAB A COUPLE TIMES AND THEN HIT OK. 

AFTER DOING ALL THE $100,000 TRICKS THIS IS WHAT ULTIMATELY WORKED FOR ME

[sade hurst]

put your regular self employed income back in. once you get to the checkpoint where it flags you (line 18 or 22) then remove the amount from the box so its blank. (if there is any amount in the top box remove it as well) make sure both boxes are blank, hit tab a couple times. and then hit ok. this is what worked for me after I tried everything else. hope it helps

[sade hurst]

put your regular self employed income back in. once you get to the checkpoint where it flags you (line 18 or 22) then remove the amount from the box so its blank. (if there is any amount in the top box remove it as well) make sure both boxes are blank, hit tab a couple times. and then hit ok. this is what worked for me after I tried everything else. hope it helps

[sade hurst]

put your regular self employed income back in. once you get to the checkpoint where it flags you (line 18 or 22) then remove the amount from the box so its blank. (if there is any amount in the top box remove it as well) make sure both boxes are blank, hit tab a couple times. and then hit ok. this is what worked for me after I tried everything else. hope it helps

[sade hurst]

put your regular self employed income back in. once you get to the checkpoint where it flags you (line 18 or 22) then remove the amount from the box so its blank. (if there is any amount in the top box remove it as well) make sure both boxes are blank, hit tab a couple times. and then hit ok. this is what worked for me after I tried everything else. Sometimes you have to glitch a glitch to fix it. 🙂  hope it helps

[teresamorgan0301969]

Hello, @gloriah5200 

This is so confusing so what do I put if I have $22,339 in box 4C?

Thank you,

Teresa M.

[DianeW777]

It depends.  If you want to defer 50% of your self employment tax (determined based on the net profit for the period defined below) and if your income and expenses were steady throughout the year you should enter approximately 77.5% as eligible for the special deferral.

• Once this is entered, TurboTax will calculate the amount you are allowed to defer.

Excerpt from the 'Learn More' link in this section.  

The amount of the self-employment tax that is eligible for deferral depends on your net income from 3/21/2020 to 12/31/2020.

If you made roughly the same amount each month, calculating your eligible income is easy. Just grab a calculator and multiply your net self-employment income by 0.775.

If your income was not consistent from moth to month, you'll need to do some extra math to find your eligible income. You can still use the amount we gave you for your net self employment income, but you'll need to subtract the net income your earned between 1/1/2020 and 3/20/2020. Remember, your net income is what you earned minus any expenses.

Self-employed individuals may defer the payment of 50 percent of the Social Security tax imposed under section 1401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code on net earnings from self-employment income for the period beginning on March 27, 2020 and ending December 31, 2020. (Section 2302 of the CARES Act calls this period the "payroll tax deferral period.")

Self-employed individuals determine their net income from self-employment and deductions based on their method of accounting. Most self-employed individuals use the cash method of accounting and will therefore include all income actually or constructively received during the period and all deductions actually paid during the period when determining their net income from self-employment.

The deferred deposits social security tax must be deposited by the following dates (referred to as the "applicable dates") to be treated as timely (and avoid a failure to deposit penalty):

• On December 31, 2021, 50 percent of the eligible deferred amount; and
• On December 31, 2022, the remaining amount.

See the IRS Deferred SE Tax FAQs for more information. 

[Zulla]

I'm exactly where you are. They ask me if I want to talk to a live person. I say yes. She gets on and has no idea what to do. Tells me she's not a tax professional. 

"I appreciate you, but why are you on this call with me then?"

Very frustrating

[Zulla]

Thank You Kathryn, that helped. Good step by step instructions. 😁