Why is my Self-employment income and expenses not showing up?

[didiannamora05]

The business was started in 2024 with zero profits and a small amount of loss. In 2025 there were profits but the loss was still greater. TurboTax is not showing my business income for this year.

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

I think you mean you have a business loss but it is not showing as deductible on your return. It could be that you indicated that you were not materially involved with the business or you weren't sufficiently "at risk" in the business. Either one of these situations would prevent you from being able to deduct your business loss. You can check this by going back into your business entries.

To check on the "at risk" issue, edit your business entries and on the screen that says Your (name of business) Business, choose the option for Special Situations which is under Final Details. On the next screen that says Do you have any of these other business situations? see the option that says I have money invested in this business that I am not at risk of losing etc... If that option is checked, you need to uncheck it if that doesn't apply to you.

For the material participation issue, go back to the screen that says My (name of business) Business and update your Business Profile. On the next screen, see if the Actively participates option says "no" and if so, edit that response to indicate "yes" if that applies to you.

[nanstombaugh]

Hello TurboTax, I have W2 wages and self-employment.  My self-employment income and expenses ( I have input the expenses; there was no income), and self-employment is not showing up in the section titled "My Income," overview.  This same issue occurred in the 2024 tax season.   What is noted below by ThomasM125 does not fix my issue.

"To check on the "at risk" issue, edit your business entries and on the screen that says Your (name of business) Business, choose the option for Special Situations which is under Final Details. On the next screen that says Do you have any of these other business situations? see the option that says I have money invested in this business that I am not at risk of losing etc... If that option is checked, you need to uncheck it if that doesn't apply to you.

For the material participation issue, go back to the screen that says My (name of business) Business and update your Business Profile. On the next screen, see if the Actively participates option says "no" and if so, edit that response to indicate "yes" if that applies to you."

[PatriciaV]

If you have entered a Self-Employed business for Schedule C but aren't seeing an amount on the income summary, this may be only a display issue. You can check this by previewing your Form 1040 Schedule 1 to see if you have income or loss on Line 3. If the amount you expected is shown on this line, your return is correct and the income summary can be ignored.

You can preview your return in TurboTax Online before you file as follows.

1. Open your return and go to the menu in the left column.
2. Choose Tax Tools and View Tax Summary.  
3. Click on Preview My 1040 in the left column to reveal the main pages of your return.
4. Scroll down in the smaller window to find Schedule 1.
5. Income/loss from a business is shown on Line 3.
6. Click "Back" in the header to return.

If you're using TurboTax Desktop, use the Forms icon in the TurboTax header and find Schedule 1 in the left column (Forms in My Return).

@nanstombaugh