Social

[marburgert]

I am a US citizen and live in Germany. I pay self employment tax to Germany on my German income. I have the form that confirms this. I am using TurboTax to do my American taxes and reported my German income. But TurboTax keeps trying to take out social security tax. How do I solve this problem

[pk]

@marburgert , are you not taking advantage  of  Foreign Earned Income Exclusion -- therefore no US income?  Or you saying that your Schedule -C income is resulting in SECA taxes on Schedule-SE ?

Since there is a "Totalization Agreement" between the US-SSA and Germany , you need to pay  SECA equivalent to only one country.  See this from US-SSA -->  Totalization Agreement with Germany | International Programs | SSA.

Is there more I can do for you ?

[marburgert]

I don‘t file for the income exclusion. I take the foreign tax credit. I also know about the totalization agreement and already have my certificate of coverage from Germany showing I paid self employment tax already. I know to add that certificate to the return and to write exempt on the line for self employment tax. But I am using turbo tax software and don‘t know how Show this in the software program. It keeps telling me I owe self employment tax on my German income. Is there an adjustment somewhere in the software that I can reflect this?

[pk]

@marburgert , now that I understand your situation/ query better 

Instruction for Schedule-SE says: -->  2024 Instructions for Schedule SE (2024) | Internal Revenue Service

"  If your self-employment income is exempt from SE tax, you should get a statement from the appropriate agency of the foreign country verifying that your self-employment income is subject to social security coverage in that country. If the foreign country won’t issue the statement, go to the SSA Office of Earnings and International Operations at SSA International Programs Online Certificate of Coverage Service. Don’t complete Schedule SE. Instead, attach a copy of the statement to Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, and enter “Exempt, see attached statement” on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4 "

Because you have to ---- (a)  delete Schedule-SE   (b)   overwrite Schedule-2 line 4  ( you have to handwrite in here) and   (c)  attach a statement from the Tax-Home country, TurboTax probably flag this as error  and therefore you have  to file by mail.

Does this make sense ?   Is there more I can do for you ?