I am self employed but work for a company how do I file that on my return I can’t figure out how it was done the passed 5 years

If you are both, Self-Employed but also hold a W-2 job, report the Self-Employed income on Schedule C and the W-2 as personal income. 

 

Is this something else?  What tax form was used to report your income? 

 

Some Taxpayers are self-employed but are also considered a "Statuary Employee". An example would be a real Estate Agent that works for a specific Broker. These employees get Form 1099-NEC and file schedule C for that income. 

 

At one time, some W-2 employees were able to claim work expenses, similar to a self-employed taxpayer, but that was eliminated except for:

 

• Armed Forces reservists.
• Qualified performing artists.
• Fee-basis state or local government officials.
• Employees with impairment-related work expenses.

 

If you work for a company, they should have sent you a 1099-NEC or possibly a 1099-MISC (in the past). This is the "non-employee" compensation form that reports your income if you are over the reportable threshold. You would then use the data on that form to enter into your Turbotax to figure your taxes.

 

If you have paper copies of your prior year returns, you can examine them to see how income was reported. Look for your 1099-MISC, 1099-NEC, or W-2 forms also.

 

If you are self-employed, you should be keeping your own set of accounting records that track income, expenses, etc. Many use Quickbooks or another software package that automates the record-keeping processes.