Every year married, I was advised by TurboTax to file jointly with my husband, self employed. He never makes more than $20,000 a year. I never get a refund. Why?

[poohbearllc]

I was a single parent up until 2020. I'm not able to enter his business info when filling. Should I get an accountant to go over these years or is IRS correct?

[Bsch4477]

Not sure what you mean by not being able to enter his income which should be reported on Schedule C. 

[Mike9241]

as self-employed, he owes about 15% as self-employment taxes on his income in addition to the regular income taxes.  As self-employed he has no withholding to cover his share of the taxes.  Thus, his taxes come out of your withholding reducing or eliminating any refund.  

Depending on your point of view you could estimate what his taxes are by preparing a joint retuen and only entering his tax info and then seeing what the taxes are and then entering your income to see what your taxes are by the difference. One could also argue to do it the other way around. Enter your income first and then his.

another method would be to do a joint return and then allocate regular income taxes in proportion to each spouse's taxable income. Then add his self-employment taxes to his regular income taxes

There is no right answer to this. It depends on family dynamics. Getting a refund means you made an interest free loan to the government for a portion of the year, Owing isn't the worst thing if money is available, without have to borrow to pay the bill. Online might not be practical since you have to pay to see results at least the first prepared return. The desktop versions could do as many returns as you like for just one fee, but you need a full pc or Mac with a 64 bit operating system 

 .  

[poohbearllc]

@Bsch4477 When filling out information through TurboTax, once it's entered that he's self employed, there are no more questions about his income. The system automatically just enters all of my information

[poohbearllc]

@Mike9241 thank you for that information. I was not aware. He usually files separately under a business account. I assumed that would take care of anything owed on his part. I also assumed when the system calculates approximate refund, it takes into account that he is self employed. Every year though, the estimated amount is never received. 

[VolvoGirl]

Where are you entering that he is self employed?  Are you using the Online version?   You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to Premium version. Or use any of the Desktop CD/Download programs.

How to enter income from Self Employment
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...

Where to enter business expenses
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/entering-importing/help/where-do-i-enter-my-self-employment-busine...

We are not sure what your questions are.  Can you ask more specific questions with details?  Did you get married in 2020?  Is the IRS sending you bills each year for not reporting his self employment income?  Does he get 1099MISC or 1099NEC forms for it?  

Oh I see you made a new post.  Is he filing a separate business return like a 1120 S or 1065 return?  Then he might get a K-1 from the business return to enter into your Joint personal return.  

[Mike9241]

what do you mean he files separately under a business account?   Unless his business is a C-corporation, his income goes on the joint return. Either a schedule C or through a k-1 issued by his business.   On a joint return both spouse report all their income and deductions.  The other option is for both to file married separate where each would only report their own income and deductions. Generally, MFS produces higher taxes.

if the above differs from what was actually filed run to a tax pro because then there would likely be a misreporting of taxes 

[VolvoGirl]

I see you have LLC at the end of your username.  Is he a Single Member LLC?  Is it a S Corp?  Does he file a 1120-S business return for it?