Enter Health Insurance as Guaranteed Payment or Small Employer Health Insurance Credit or Both?

[gciriani]

I'm a small business LLC with no employee other than me, and I pay my health insurance out of my business checking account. In TT Business, I usually enter zero employees, and then I add the health insurance I pay in the Guaranteed Payments box. I'm wondering if I'm missing an opportunity, and if should instead enter one employee, and complete the Small Employer Insurance Credit, or if I should do both.

[IreneS]

What type of business entity is your LLC?  single-member LLC, partnership, or S-corp?

[gciriani]

It's a two-member LLC for 2016 (partnership I guess), but for the next return year (2017) it will drop to one.

[IreneS · Accepted solution]

UPDATED FOR TAX YEAR 2019

You get points for an interesting idea.  However, the problem with your idea is that you are not an employee of the partnership.  If your business was organized as an S-Corp. you (and any other officers of the corp.) would be considered employees.  Also, the insurance would have to be through the SHOP Marketplace.

You are correct in considering the insurance premium paid as a guaranteed payment.  According to the IRS:  "[I]f a partnership pays accident and health insurance premiums for its partners, it generally can deduct them as guaranteed payments to partners.”

Since you said you won't be a partnership in 2020, you will be a sole proprietorship and will file your business return on Schedule C in your 1040.  Premiums for health insurance and long-term care insurance will be shown as a deduction from your gross income on Schedule 1, line 16 of form 1040 [self-employed health insurance deduction] -- not on Schedule C. 

[Edited | 4/14/2020 |  1:05pm PDT]