I don't think the amount TurboTax tells me I have left to contribute to my SEP retirement plan is correct

[cj1212]

For SEP plans, the max one can contribute for 2023 is either 66k or 25% of net income, whichever is less. 

I contributed 26k to my SEP but it says I can still contrbute 27k.... I think it means all plans combined cause I am pretty sure I can't contribute another 27k to my SEP because my net income isn't high enough.  How do I get Turbo Tax to figure out the exact amount I can only contribute to my SEP and nothing else (no 401k or roth, just the max for my SEP?). I think last year it was showing me exactly how much I have left to contribute to my SEP but this year its showing total for all plans. 

I checked the "maxed out" option btw 

[cj1212]

Does anyone know?

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

The display suggests that you have marked the Maximize box for a 401(k), perhaps in addition to marking the Maximize box for a SEP IRA.  Either revisit the self-employed retirement contribution section, indicate that you made contributions to a 401(k) and remove any entries there or simply delete the Keogh, SEP and SIMPLE Contributions Worksheet and start over with entering your SEP contribution.  In the online version of TurboTax you can delete the worksheet by going to Tax Tools -> Tools -> Delete a form and clicking the corresponding Delete link.

Note that the maximum SEP contribution for a self-employed individual is 20%, not 25% of net earnings.  Net earnings are net profit minus the deductible portion of self-employment taxes (because the SEP contribution is an employer contribution that reduces net earnings to which the 25% base rate would apply).  A SEP contribution of $26,650 would require $143,382 or more of net profit (assuming that you have no other job where you pay Social Security and Medicare taxes).  If you have less net profit than that, you have made an excess SEP contribution that needs to be corrected.

[cj1212]

No, I did not over contribute to my SEP because my net is closer to 200k, I just have not received all of my 1099's yet so the income is not correct atm. 

However, it looks like I did accidentally checked off "maximize" under 401k so that was the issue. Got it fixed now, thanks!