Why can't I say $0 for self-employed cash when I said $xxx last year?

[wgd082490]

During the Review phase, my "self-employed income" section indicates, "Need Review" for cash income. Last year I had cash income, but when I enter $0 (or leave it blank, or try deleting it) for this year, I keep getting returned to the section "Needs review."

[ColeenD3]

Can you please clarify your income? Do you say, " Last year I had cash income", do you mean tax year 2020 or 2021? 

If you had no income in 2021, did you indeed have a business? The IRS considers these points to determine if there was a trade or business.

A trade or business is generally an activity carried on for a livelihood or in good faith to make a profit. The facts and circumstances of each case determine whether an activity is a trade or business. Some of the important facts and circumstances used to make this determination include:

1. regularity of the activities,
2. regularity of the transactions,
3. production of income, and
4. ongoing efforts to further the interests of your business.

[wgd082490]

I appreciate your response, and my apologies for any lack of clarity. Yes, I owned the business in both 2020 and 2021 and earned income in both fiscal years. In the 2020 tax year, the business reported "other miscellaneous income" that was listed as a _cash_ item (i.e., in addition to 1099s). For the 2021 tax year (what I'm working on now), all business income is reported as 1099s since there is no _cash_ income to report. During the (Federal) "Review" phase, TurboTax insists that the "other miscellaneous income" section "Needs review," but no further instructions are provided. The only way to proceed to the State income tax phase is to (at least temporarily) overlook / bypass the aforementioned "Needs review" section.

[ColeenD3]

Here is a workaround. Try entering $1 for other miscellaneous income just to get around it.

[wgd082490]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I already tried that without success.

[ZoltanB45]

Just to clarify, the cash and 1099 income was for the same business. Prior year was cash and this year is 1099. The fact that it says "needs review" does not necessarily mean it will stop you from filing. It probably will, but finish everything up and see if it does stop you from filing. If it does, at least  At that point, it will direct you to the input that is causing the diagnostic, making it somewhat easier to fix.

If that doesn't work, add the 1099's and use that number as the cash input. Delete the 1099 forms.  There is no rule stating you have to enter the 1099's for your business revenue.

[wgd082490]

Thank you for your assistance, @ZoltanB45 (and @ColeenD3). To clarify, there is only one business for both the 2020 and 2021 tax years, and this issue is in reference to that same business. For tax year 2020 I had both 1099s and cash, but for tax year 2021 I have 1099s _exclusively_--no cash. I can not delete the "miscellaneous (cash) income" entry by clicking its trashcan, and the "Needs review" comment persists if I add $0 or a fictional $1 cash as "miscellaneous income" (as previously suggested as a workaround). If I ignore the "Needs review" suggestion (since all income has been reported in the 1099s section), I am apparently able to file since I can proceed to the check out / payment page (after completing the State tax form). Could this issue possibly be the result of a programming glitch? If so, is there any way to report it to Intuit? Again, I appreciate everyone's assistance.