I have a mileage of 900 miles for a self employed business trip and $350 of travel expenses (I have a tax of $141). Is it worth upgrading to TT Selfemployed ($100)?

[MichaelDC · Accepted solution]

You're right. If you have only income from self-employment and no expenses, there is no need to upgrade from Deluxe. If you do have expenses, however, that will trigger an upgrade to the TurboTax Self-Employed edition.

Expenses, however, could reduce your total income and overall tax bill. Including SE tax (social security/medicare tax) of 15% and a 15% tax rate, $280 of expenses would save you around $84 in taxes. At 25% tax bracket, it would mean a $112 saving, and so on. For you, you would have $350 plus 486 (900 miles at .54 cents/mile). That would be a total of $836 which should get you around $250 on your federal return (depending on your tax bracket). More details would be needed to know for sure.

This may be helpful:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/5559255