Do I need to buy Turbo Tax Self Employed?

[jtenos]

I've been using Turbo Tax to file for years - the Premier edition or whatever it used to be called, where I can do investment properties and investments and that kind of thing.

In 2020 I was part-time self employed for the first time, in addition to my regular W-2 job. I didn't incur any expenses that I want to write off, and I didn't make any estimated tax payments (I did bump up my regular job's withholdings to make up for it).

Since I'm not doing anything weird other than adding more income, is there any need to buy the Self-Employed edition of Turbo Tax? Or is the Premier version good enough?

[Kat · Accepted solution]

I'm pretty sure you can get by using your Premier Edition.  It contains Schedule C (which is the form you'll need to complete for your self-employed business).  It also contains schedule SE.  That's the form that you'll submit to calculate your self employment tax.

Here's the thing:  If you begin with Premier and you enter information that requires the Self Employed Edition, you'll be prompted to upgrade.  I'd "think" that would happen only if you're entering business expenses, which you say you don't have.

So stick with your Premier.  I think you'll be good.

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[jtenos]

Awesome, thank you very much.

[Kat]

My pleasure.  Best of luck!

[bradsimmons16]

Hi @jtenos,

Did this work for you to just use the premier for filing even though you had self employment income? Or did Turbotax force you to upgrade to the self-employed package?

@Kat 

[ZoltanB45]

If you do not have expenses related to the business, you will not have to purchase Turbo Tax Self-Employed.  if you had legitimate business expenses, you would be required to enter them and then you would need to upgrade.

[Kat]

@bradsimmons16  Please see the answer TurboTax Expert @ZoltanB45 for clarification.  As I said earlier, if your enter qualified business deductions, the program will prompt you to upgrade to TurboTax Self-Employed.  In this situation, you MUST upgrade in order to properly complete your tax return.  

If you don't have qualified business expenses, you can use the Premier Edition to complete your self-employed Schedule C and file your return.

[jtenos]

Yes, I followed the advice here and used the regular edition, and it worked fine for me since I had no expenses.