I work for the United Nations as a US Citizen. I am not sure how to enter the salary I earned (self employed). I have a UN statement of taxable earnings for 2017.

[Critter]

When you enter the income in the self employed Sch C section use the second option only ...

[jgoldman4]

The UN letter is requesting that this be put in Line 7 of 1040 though.  Does this mean TurboTax does not support UN income?

[Critter]

Line 7 of the form 1040 is for wages  not self employment.

[Delal]

The past few years, I entered my UN 'taxable earnings' as a W2 with no tax deductions (then it goes to line 7 of form 1040.) I was not a citizen so I did not owe self-employment tax. Then the UN would pay me back the taxes owed on this amount. (Or you can go to form 1040 and enter amount on line 7.) This year, I became a citizen so at the end of the W2 part in Turbotax, I will have to check the box 'International organization - I have to pay S/E tax' and the UN should pay me back half of the total S/E tax due. I am also self-employed and work for the UN only part of the year. But when I do, I'm considered short-term full-time staff (and not freelancer) by the United Nations so I don't know if my UN income is considered part of my self-employment income for the purposes of calculating the amount I can put into a retirement account. I cannot find a CPA who understands this situation. A long time ago, a CPA working with World Bank staff told me it was all self-employment income but I'd like to get a second opinion. Anyone else in a similar situation?

[MichaelG623]

As I understand your question, you are a UN staff member, and these are wages. If you have an Annual Statement of Earnings, you are a staff member, not "self-employed" and the income should be reported on line 7 as wages. The UN prefers that you not use Schedule C, because it causes problems with the tax reimbursement system.

You will use the W-2 entry screen to enter your full salary, but then you will indicate that you didn’t get a W-2 and link to a Form 4852. Turbo Tax will ask you to enter an explanation, which you can do in a few sentences:  The UN doesn't issue W-2s, so you used your Statement of Earnings, etc.

Because you are a US citizen, you need to indicate that these earnings are subject to self-employment tax. Use the Schedule SE Adjustments Worksheet and enter your UN salary on Part II, line 4 "Other SE income reported as income on Form 1040, Line 7."

The problem with this answer and approach is that you won't be able to e-file. It will be rejected because you won't have an EIN to enter in the W-2 screen, because the UN doesn't have one, and you can't use any workarounds anymore (like entering all x's or all 1's or all 9's in place of an actual EIN).

TurboTax seems to be either unaware of this problem, or refuses to deal with it. The least they could do would be to (I) understand the problem experienced by their customers in this area and then (ii) either deal with it, or give accurate and complete information about why they can't and the consequences for us.

[Bubuuu]

It looks like Turbotax fixed the issue.

After you add the income as W2, you get a screen with several options. One of them is for the United Nations!

I checked that plus another one that says I need to pay for self-employment taxes.

I have not completed the return yet, but I got no alerts telling me I will not be able to e-file... fingers crossed...

[rubyzippers]

The problem with what appears to be this year's fix (the checkbox for International Organization subsequent to the W-2) is that if you filled in Box 1 of a hypothetical W-2 to get to that checkbox and also answer the question to the amount of compensation from the organization, it will add them together for the self-employment worksheet.  Haven't found the resolution yet.

[DT2020]

Trying to file taxes for 2019.  Unfortunately have found no possibility to E-FILE without a United Nations EIN number. - Neither the UN nor UNJSPF have one I am told.

The Questions about UN income and "Substitute W-2" in the program do allow you to enter text with explanatory notes, which is helpful --- BUT they do not  avoid this problem of NO E-FILING. At least as far as I have found after a long time of trying.  I have tried 3 times so far and all E-FIles are rejected, so may need to file by Mail.  

Very Unfortunate. 

[LeonardS]

What form did your employer give you to report your earnings to you Form W-2, 1099-MISC?  Depending on how your earnings were reported will impact how you file your tax return and if you need an employer's EIN.

[Devrubia]

I have the exact same issue except that I am an IICA holder which means that I am not considered a staff member but an international independent contract holder. Last year I thought it was to be done like I was self-employed via 1040 and schedule C, but I see others are doing it as W-2, but without the e-file. 

Do you think I can follow this advice to file under W-2 even if I'm not staff and I just continue to pay SE estimated taxes, and just don't get reimbursed?

Has anyone found a good tax specialist that can help? Do you know if its worth to pay $200 for the Turbo tax specialist? Do you know if they have people on staff that understand how the UN works?

[fouadmkhan]

I am also and IICA and the UN Tax office even refused to talk to me. In Turbo Tax I have managed to add my income as self-employment income however that means not only do I pay the SE taxes but my gross income puts me in a higher bracket significantly increasing my tax burden. The tax office won't reimburse me until I sign the waiver which is not even applicable to me. 

[MarilynG1]

@fouadmkhan  Be sure to claim all your Self-Employment Expenses to offset your Self Employment Income.

Cell phone, vehicle expenses, health insurance, office supplies, travel, meals, etc.  There are many expenses you can deduct and actually being self-employed allows you more freedom than a W-2 employee to do so.

You can even contribute to a Retirement Plan for yourself as a Business Expense to lower your taxable income. 

Click this link for more info on Reporting Business Income and Expenses. 

This link gives info on Top Tax Write-Offs for the Self Employed.

[rubyzippers]

That's not the correct way to enter it as it is not self-employment.  Go back to Wages & Income & enter like you're doing a w-2 except that you read through all the selection boxes and be sure to check the one that applies to you. There is a box when you work for an international organization.

[LinaJ2020]

To enter your wages from United Nation UN, enter as if you received a W-2, here are the steps:

in TurboTax online,

• Sign in to your TurboTax account and select Pick up where you left off
• At the right upper corner, in the search box, type in "w2" and Enter
• Select Jump to w2
• Follow prompts
• On-screen, Do any of these uncommon situations apply to this W-2?, select Foreign or International organizations
• Follow prompts to continue

For reporting requirement, please continue to read:

For U.S. citizens, compensation received for services performed as an employee of an international organization is includible in gross income and is reportable on their U.S. federal income tax returns, even though the compensation may not be subject to withholding of U.S. federal income taxes.  Furthermore, compensation received by a U.S. citizen for services performed within the United States as an employee of an international organization is subject to self-employment tax.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/employees-of-a-foreign-government-or-interna...