I'm not able to report self-employed income. The website page just cycles back and asks again if I have any self-employed income after I click "yes".

[mesquitebean]

The regular Free Edition cannot handle self-employment income.  Does it not tell you to upgrade?   Do you also have expenses associated with the self-employment income?

[pareck25]

Thank you for your response. It did finally stop looping back and informed me that I will need to upgrade. I do have some expenses associated but I don't believe it is enough to make a difference so I was just going to upgrade to Deluxe.

[mesquitebean]

You're welcome.  Online Deluxe Edition can handle self-employment income if there are no expenses.  If you try to report expenses, it will ask you to upgrade to the Self-Employment edition.

[pareck25]

Thank you. Can you also tell me how much it will cost to also file state taxes with this self-employment income?

[mesquitebean]

The online Deluxe Edition is currently 34.99 and a state return is 36.99.  Prices will increase later in filing season (usually March).   Be aware that if you choose to pay out of your Federal refund, there is a 34.99 additional service fee for that option.  So you save money by paying with credit or debit card.  

Is your AGI less than $33,000 or are you eligible for EIC (earned income credit), or are you active duty military?   If you have any one of those, I can tell you about another free product with free Fed and free State that can handle Schedule C income and expenses.   You would have to use a different account (User ID), however, and if you need to transfer in the 2015 data, it would be complicated to do, but might be possible.

[pareck25]

It is less than 33,000 with a dependent so I will receive EIC.  I have saved record of returns from previous years so it might not be that complicated. What is this product you speak of?

[mesquitebean]

The info I paste below will have info on both free products and their differences.

[pareck25]

I will look into this and see if it works for me. Thanks again!

[mesquitebean · Accepted solution]

The regular Free Edition cannot handle Schedule C self-employment income and expenses.  It should ask you to upgrade.  If you have no associated expenses, then Deluxe might work for you.  If you have expenses, then it will have you upgrade to Self-Employment Edition.

TurboTax has 2 free products.  The regular Free Edition is for simple 1040A or 1040EZ returns.  It is currently free for Federal and State returns under the Absolute Zero promotion.  It is located at:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/free-edition.jsp

TurboTax also has another free product called the FREEDOM Edition (not to be confused with the regular Free Edition).  It has free Federal preparation AND free State preparation. There is no efiling fee.

The Freedom Edition is more fully-featured than the regular Free Edition.  The Freedom Edition can prepare Schedule A, C, D, E, and F that the Free Edition cannot.  It will prepare a Form 1040 or 1040A or 1040EZ.

For Freedom Edition a user needs to meet only ONE of these qualifications:

• AGI of $33,000 or less
• or active duty military (including Reservists and National Guard) with a military-issued W-2 and a 2016 family AGI of $64,000 or less
• or eligible for EIC (Earned Income Credit, also called EITC.)

The FREEDOM Edition is located at:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom

How to switch and start over in Freedom Edition (requires new account at the Freedom website)
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2026912-how-do-i-switch-to-turbotax-freedom-edition