Line 18 on the self employment form 1040. It says to write the amount from box 3 that attributes from March through December. Does this mean amount of income made then?

[snw21700]

It's in part 3 which is about deferring, I am just confused if I should be entering entering amount I earned within that time frame or an amount I want to defer for that time frame?

[PattiF]

Line 18 on the SE Form is asking for the income that was earned during the period from March 27, 2020 to December 31, 2020.

See the right column on page SE-6 for information. Self Employment IRS

[Christie]

Any idea why I would be prompted in my federal review to complete line 18 if I am not deferring any self-employment tax?

[AFLENZ]

I wish the replies to this were a little more simple. I do Instacart and it's having me do the same thing, I still don't fully understand even when reading the right column of Schedule SE-6 from the IRS paper.

[JeffreyR77]

The requirements of the CARES Act make it a bit confusing in order to get the information from you so TurboTax can present you the best information for you to make a decision. 

The program is asking for the income you earned from March 27th until the end of the year in your self-employment activity. 

It is from this income you have the option to decide if you want to defer or postpone paying some of the self-employment tax your would normally have to pay this year on that income. 

If you choose to defer some of the tax you would have until December 31st to pay half of the amount you defer and until December 31st of 2022 to pay the rest.

Deferral of Self-Employment Taxes