Do I owe taxes if I have a negative total income for the year?

[kashix]

Turbo tax is showing a positive amount for Federal Tax Due when I lost money this year. That doesn't make much sense. What's going on here?

[CatinaT1]

This depends on your total income and what type of income you have.  What are all your income types?

[kashix]

Total income is -700.

About 2300 income from self-employed contractor work (rideshare) and -3000 from capital loss.

Federal amount due is 160. 

CA state showing a refund of 130. 

Do those numbers look correct?

[RobertG · Accepted solution]

You have to pay self employment tax on net income from self employment; even if it is offset by a capital loss.

You can view your your 1040 form before you e-file:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Select Tax Tools in the left menu (if you don't see this, select the menu icon in the upper-left corner).
3. Then select tools
4. Then select View tax summary
5. Then select Preview my 1040

Self-employment tax is on line 15, and Schedule 2 line 10.

[Raquel18]

I Cannot find tools to get to the self employment tax line.  I’m unsure if I’m filing correct.  It has taken my entire 17k income and saying negative income.  No alerts Tha to owe anything but does it showing up all negative seem right? 

[DawnC]

If you have more business expenses than you have business income, your net self-employment can be negative.   That means you operated at a net loss for 2021.   You do not enter anything on the Self-Employment tax line, TurboTax calculates automatically and enters the amount on your tax return.    Have you entered all of your business income and expenses?   

You can preview your tax return to see what is going on.   When you preview the 1040, you will find Schedules 1-3 below the 1040.    Scroll down to Schedule 1 and see Line 3 (Business Income) to see the net amount of your business to see if it looks correct.   You will see your Self-Employment tax (if any) on Line 4 of Schedule 2 - it won't be negative, but it will be 0 if you have a net loss on Schedule C.  

You can use the Print Center to print or preview your Schedule C to see the details of that income (or loss) .   You can view all of your forms at anytime in the desktop software by clicking on Forms at the top.    @Raquel18