Social Security was not paid

[PMD54]

I work privately for a family for 10 years. I used TurboTax to report my taxes. So I was considered self-employed. I trusted TurboTax to guide me through the process. Fast forward to my retirement age,  I realized Turbo Tax never deducted / paid Social Security in my tax return,  and as a result, my monthly social security check that comes now, is a FRACTION of what it could be. All those years of work for nothing . If I could sue turbotax, I would. But I'm sure it would be a useless endeavor for they have guardrails intact, FOR THEMSELVES, not for us as they advertise. Totally and absolutely devastated that this happened and disgusted with TurboTax

[xmasbaby0]

Look at your past year returns and find your Schedule SE's in the pdf of each return that you prepared.   That will show the amount of self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare.   You say you used TT to prepare your tax returns.  Were you using online software ---- did you use online Self-Employed?   Did you prepare a Schedule C every year?  

  You have to access your own account and/or  print it for yourself using exactly the same account and user ID that you used when you prepared the return.

Start a 2024 return online and enter some personal information  so that the menu on the left opens up and lets you access your past year returns.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/prior-year-return/help/how-do-i-access-my-prior-year-return/01/270...

Many people have multiple TT accounts and forget how to access them.  Log out of the account you are in now.

Account Recovery

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901535-forgot-your-turbotax-online-user-id-or-password

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901486-how-many-turbotax-accounts-do-i-have

Or did you use the desktop version of TurboTax?  If so, the files are on your own hard drive or any backup device you used like a flash drive.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901659-find-your-tax-data-file-in-mac

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/find-last-year-tax-data-file-...

You can get a free transcript from the IRS or for a fee of $30, an actual copy of your tax return.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506.pdf

SAVE YOUR TAX RETURNS !

EVERY year before mid-October you should save a copy of your tax return as a pdf and print a copy of it for your records.  That way you will not be searching online frantically when you need it for a lender, FAFSA forms, your next tax return, etc. 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900937-why-should-i-save-a-pdf-copy-of-my-return

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899779-what-s-the-difference-between-the-tax-data-file-and-the-pd...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1912466-how-do-i-save-my-return-as-a-pdf-in-the-turbotax-software-... •

NOTE:  TurboTax and the IRS save returns for seven years.  Returns older than seven years are purged.

[Opus 17]

You say you worked for a family, does that mean you worked for your family, or for a small family run business but you were not related?

If you were an employee and not related to the owner, the employer should have withheld social security and medicare tax.  If you were an independent contractor, you were responsible for your own taxes including self-employment tax (the self-employed version of social security and medicare.)  See here for information about the difference between being an employee and an independent contractor.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-o...

If you were an employee, then your employer screwed you, no matter how "nice" they seemed.  You can file a form SS-8 to start an investigation.  If the IRS determines you should have been classified as an employee, you will be credited with the missing social security withholding, and the employer will be charged plus significant penalties.  https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-ss-8

If you were an independent contractor, check your tax returns.  You should have a schedule C and a schedule SE.  If you have neither, you screwed yourself.  If you reported the income as "other income" and not as self-employment, turbotax is not an all-seeing eye that can look at your situation and tell you that you are wrong.  If the company was treating you as an independent contractor, they should have given you a form 1099-MISC (before 2021) or a form 1099-NEC (after 2021).  Turbotax would ask questions to categorize the income as self-employment or other miscellaneous income, but if you answered wrong, the program doesn't know that.

I think you should take your employment documents and past tax returns to a tax professional who can help you assess the situation. 

If you worked for your family, there are some special rules and exemptions for social security withholding.  I would have to look them up to be sure, and we would need to know more about the specific relationships. 

[TomD8]

As @xmasbaby0 implies, your situation strongly suggests that you did not report your self-employment income on Schedule C of your tax returns as you should have.  If you had done so, TurboTax would have automatically generated Schedule SE, which calculates your Medicare and Social Security tax.  

If your previous year tax returns do not include Schedules C and SE, then you can file amended returns.

IRS info on amended returns:

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc308

Schedule C:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

Schedule SE:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sse.pdf

[Opus 17]

---

@TomD8 wrote:

As @xmasbaby0 implies, your situation strongly suggests that you did not report your self-employment income on Schedule C of your tax returns as you should have.  If you had done so, TurboTax would have automatically generated Schedule SE, which calculates your Medicare and Social Security tax.  

---

That's an interesting suggestion, I'm not 100% sure it will work. 

First, the taxpayer would have to pay about 15% of the work income in back taxes, plus interest and penalties for late payment.  The SE tax would go to their credit at the social security administration and result in a recalculation of the benefit, but would the increased benefit pay off in the long run against the taxes, interest and late fees?

Then, I'm not clear that the IRS or social security administration would process an amended return more than 3 years old.  The IRS won't pay a refund more than 3 years old, and I assume they would cash a check if you send payment, but I don't know if it would be applied to the social security benefit.

I would suggest a review with a tax pro first.