How to enter the 2% Shareholder Insurance deduction from my S Corp for 2019?

[mrlamkin]

For tax year 2019 this deduction is on line Schedule 1 line 16 which carries over to the first page of the 1040.  However, I can not find a way to enter this amount via TT Premier or Home and Business.  I can override it on the form itself, but then get errors when I try to efile.  Any suggestions?

[DawnC]

 You enter the deductions at the end of the K-1 entry process.  Follow these instructions and the deduction will show up on Line #16 of Schedule 1.  To enter Health Insurance Premiums you paid as a 2% or greater Self-Employed S-Corporation member, you should perform the following steps:

• Sign in to your TurboTax online account and start working anywhere on your return; or launch your TurboTax desktop file
• Click the continue button if prompted to do so
• Locate the Find / Search box in your TurboTax screen, which is often found in the upper-right hand corner
• Type in the exact search term "K-1" (without quotations) and then press enter
• Click Jump To link for K-1 that should appear beneath
• Proceed in the TurboTax sub-interview until you see to option to Update or Add a K-1 for S-Corp
• If you have already entered your S-Corp K-1, then click Edit; if you have not then click Add
• Enter all of the applicable information for your S-Corp, until you reach the "Other Situations" screen - just click through if you have already entered the K-1
• Check the box next to the choice for "I personally paid health insurance . . ."
• Click Continue until you reach the Self-Employed health Insurance screen.  Here you can enter the amounts you paid for health insurance as an S-Corp owner

[mrlamkin]

Well, I didn't get the "Other Situations" screen in the Premier or Home and Business versions. However, I found out that this deduction is not allowed when you are using the Health Care Marketplace as the insurer. So, I am assuming that I did not get this option because of entering this information via the 1095-A form.  Anyway, I can not use this deduction for 2019.  I'm still not sure why I didn't get the option mentioned above though, I would have needed it if I had other qualified health care deductions. Hopefully, I will be able to figure it out next year when I will have deductions outside of the 1095-A?

[DavidS127 · Accepted solution]

As long as the policy is in your name, you can use Marketplace insurance premiums for the self-employed health insurance deduction.  On the screen after you enter your 1095-A, there is a checkbox for "I'm self-employed" and bought a Marketplace plan".  Check that box and continue.

According to the Learn more link for that question, if you reported self-employment income on any of the schedules listed below and you used that income to buy health insurance through Healthcare.gov or your state Marketplace, you can deduct your premiums on your taxes. However, you need to tie that income to your 1095-A so we can properly calculate the deduction amount.

Schedule C – Self-employed business income
Schedule F – Farm income
Schedule K-1 partnership – This only counts if you earned self-employment income from that partnership, which means you would have an entry on Line 14 of your K-1 from that partnership.
Schedule K-1 S corporation – This only counts if you have a W-2 from that S corporation and are an owner with more than 2% interest in the S corporation.

[mrlamkin]

Perfect, finally got an answer that makes sense. Thanks!

[TonyinFL]

Thanks David and Dawn for the info!  Your information got me past this confusing issue. 

[DavidD66]

Thank you for your comments.

[TonyinFL]

Well, I may have spoke too soon.  LOL!  Looks like my self-employed health insurance deduction is 2x the appropriate amount now.  Going to have to take another look. . . .

*** passage of time ***

. . . . . OK folks, I think I may have finally figured out how this works, at least for me in online Turbotax Premier.  My situation is a single member LLC with S-corp election and health insurance being purchased through an exchange - paid personally by myself. 

In order to get the self-employed health insurance deduction to come out properly on line 16 of Schedule 1 I did the following:

1) Go into the associated K-1 and get to the page  and "Other Situation" page and check the box for "I personally paid health insurance and/or long-term care insurance premiums for myself and my family and this S corporation paid me wages."

2) By checking that box the "Self-Employment Health Insurance" page will come up next.  There are two boxes here - one for "Medicare Wages" and another for "Health Insurance Premiums You Paid Personally".  Only fill in the Medicare Wages box.  This now allows the health insurance premiums from the 1095-A to flow through.  If you fill in the "Health Insurance Premiums You Paid Personally" it will overstate the deduction. Hit continue and your refund will be recalculated using the deduction based on the 1095-A. 

Just to be sure check line 16 of Schedule 1 - it should now be filled in properly.  At this point it is interesting to note that if you go back to the associated K-1 and get to the page  and "Other Situation" page and look at the check the box for "I personally paid health insurance and/or long-term care insurance premiums for myself and my family and this S corporation paid me wages." - it is NOT checked anymore.  I am guessing it got unchecked when no value was put in the "Health Insurance Premiums You Paid Personally" box on the next page.  But it seems like it needed to be checked initially in order to bring up the next page so the "Medicare Wages" could be filled in. 

The design seems kind of confusing but I think I am good to go now.  I wanted to pass this on in case it helps anyone.  And of course, if anyone has any further insight, I am interested to hear back. 

[TonyinFL]

I think I may have finally figured out how this works, at least for me in online Turbotax Premier.  My situation is a single member LLC with S-corp election and health insurance being purchased through an exchange - paid personally by myself. 

In order to get the self-employed health insurance deduction to come out properly on line 16 of Schedule 1 I did the following:

1) Go into the associated K-1 and get to the page  and "Other Situation" page and check the box for "I personally paid health insurance and/or long-term care insurance premiums for myself and my family and this S corporation paid me wages."

2) By checking that box the "Self-Employment Health Insurance" page will come up next.  There are two boxes here - one for "Medicare Wages" and another for "Health Insurance Premiums You Paid Personally".  Only fill in the Medicare Wages box.  This now allows the health insurance premiums from the 1095-A to flow through.  If you fill in the "Health Insurance Premiums You Paid Personally" it will overstate the deduction. Hit continue and your refund will be recalculated using the deduction based on the 1095-A. 

Just to be sure check line 16 of Schedule 1 - it should now be filled in properly.  At this point it is interesting to note that if you go back to the associated K-1 and get to the page  and "Other Situation" page and look at the check the box for "I personally paid health insurance and/or long-term care insurance premiums for myself and my family and this S corporation paid me wages." - it is NOT checked anymore.  I am guessing it got unchecked when no value was put in the "Health Insurance Premiums You Paid Personally" box on the next page.  But it seems like it needed to be checked initially in order to bring up the next page so the "Medicare Wages" could be filled in. 

The design seems kind of confusing but I think I am good to go now.  I wanted to pass this on in case it helps anyone.  And of course, if anyone has any further insight, I am interested to hear back. 

[roadkill]

I feel there is flaw with this system. My situation is not working as it should. I qualify as 2% Shareholder due to my family relationship within our S-Corp even though I hold no official stock or ties to the ownership of the company. The company pays for the insurance along with all the other employees, so I am able to deduct the insurance. However, l the  I do not receive nor have access to the business schedule K-1 and they will not allow it. I cannot get TurboTax to allow me the deduction any other way. There should be another way around this!

[DavidS127]

If you meet the test for a "more than 2% shareholder" because of the family relationship, you should receive a W-2 from the S Corp reporting box 1 wages equal to your portion of health insurance premiums and that same amount in box 14 of the W-2.  The W-2 will not report box 3 or box 5 wages, however, because this compensation is not subject to payroll taxes.  As a result, the W-2 with only the medical insurance compensation will not enable you to take the deduction for self-employed health insurance. 

Unless you have other box 5 wages from this S Corp for as much as your medical insurance premiums, or there is at least that much K-1 income from this S Corp reported on your tax return by a family member who does receive a K-1 from this S Corp, you will not receive a deduction for self-employed health insurance.  Instead, you medical insurance premiums would only be deductible as medical expense on Schedule A.

@roadkill

[leejj]

@TonyinFL  Thanks for the tip, it works.  I had the same 2x problem.  Clearly this is a bug in turbotax and hopefully won't have any unintended consequences.  Last year I didn't have to do this.

@DavidS127 Hopefully TT will fix this for next year.

[DavidS127]

The requirement that a more than 2% shareholder must have W-2 box 5 wages in order to deduct self-employed health insurance premiums is not a TurboTax issue, but rather an IRS requirement.  See the section of IRS Publication 535 at this link, including the Worksheet 6-A.

@leejj

@roadkill

@TonyinFL

[nojo]

@TonyinFL Thank you so much! I was stumped on this for ages and TT Support was of no help. I don't know how you figured that out, but thank you so much!

[TonyinFL]

@leejj and @nojo You are welcome!  I am glad to see that my post helped others out.