What does it mean to say "Sch SE-T Max deferral line 18 must be entered"?

[Terrijo2021]

Hello found out that even if turbo tax allows return to send and IRS accepts it doesn’t mean that the IRS won’t adjust it once it reaches them and if numbers are off they will adjust and deduct what you owe from your return if you are getting a refund . 

[JustJoshin]

So I entered my net profits from March-December 2020 on that line.  Did I do that wrong? x.x

I have no intention of deferring, and in fact I am owed a refund so I don't think I'm even eligible!  Should I delete that form (Sch SE-T) altogether or just leave as is and let the IRS figure it out?  Don't want unnecessary audits x.x

Thanks! @zzani99 

[zzani99]

Hi! I think you did the right thing. I wish i jad read this thread before I clicked and sent mine to IRS. Mine as well, IRS owed me due to my husband's w2(filing jointly). I am not sure if it will matter as much since I dont have to pay them back anything. Even if i do, i would not want to defer my taxes. Mine just got accepted last night. I hope it sails through till i get my refund. If not, i will be so upset with Turbo tax because i paid over 100 for using self business form and they did advise me to put 0 on that line. 

[gm9928]

Answer I received from @TeamTurboTax on twitter:  Schedule SE-T is for those who were wanting to delay paying a portion of their Social Security taxes for self-employed income, this is optional. Since you didn't want to defer, the way you proceeded is fine. 

(I had deleted Sch SE-T and then was able to sail through the review and do the E-File! Deleting the Sch SE-T did not change my refund amount.)

[finkeltivity]

I couldn't delete the form. It kept reappearing, so eventually, I just put 0 in the field, since I don't want to defer anything. Is that correct?

[zzani99]

That is exactly what I did. Put 0 on line 18. I already sent my return to IRS and got accepted.  I am not sure though if that is what I was supposed to do even though I've been told by Turbo tax advisor. By putting 0 did not change my refund in any way. I do not know what it was there to begin with as i am not eligible to receive a deferral to start with. It is just inconvenient and annoying since it will keep popping up to review till you put a number.

[mike60240]

It sounds like you don't have to defer if you just want to pay taxes now. So this is part of COVID tax relief act. If you go to Personal -> Deductions -> I'll Choose -> then down to Tax relief related to COVID-19 -> Self-employment tax deferral... That should be the section you need to fill in.

[mtbrady2]

Super confused by all of the responses to this question but your seems to make sense. Where is the Personal section to click on? Thanks!

[DawnC]

Yes, if you don't want to defer the taxes, just go through that section, answer the questions and choose 0 as the amount you want to defer.   

To go through the interview and edit the amounts you can defer or want to defer:

1. Click on Federal from the left menu
2. Click on Deductions and Credits from the top menu
3. Scroll down and click on See More Tax Breaks if you don't have the full list
4. Look for and Review the entries under Tax Relief related to Covid-19. 

Click Revisit / Enter / Edit next to Self-Employment (SE) tax deferral.   To update the form, answer YES to the first question (even though you don't want to defer these taxes).   Enter your eligible earnings and on the next screen, enter 0.   TurboTax will calculate the amount you are eligible to defer but you do not have to defer the tax, you can enter 0 in that field, and then you should be able to e-file.    If you get an error for the 0 during the review, delete that 0 and leave the field blank.      @mtbrady2

[mtbrady2]

@DawnC I selected yes and then I get a message that says "it looks like you're not eligible for this deferral." It then says that since I am getting a refund, I am not eligible. I am still getting the line 18 must be entered error at review. 

[DawnC]

There is a workaround for that (see below).   It seems as if you may have gone through this section before you were ready to submit your return, which makes sense because it is in the Deductions & Credits section.   If you did and previously requested to defer an amount, you will get that error.   

Try deleting the Schedule SE first and see if it goes away before you resort to the option below... @mtbrady2

Line 18 of Sched SE is the total amount of eligible income (income earned from 03/27/-12/31).   Entering 0 on Line 18 alone is not going to remove the error if you have previously entered an amount to be deferred.    If the error is taking you to a worksheet that shows a deferral amount of 0, delete that 0 and leave the field blank; you should be able to continue filing without error. 

If deleting the amount on Line 18 of Sched SE or deleting/clearing out the 0 from the worksheet in the review section does not work, you may need to add some temporary income to be able to remove this error.   The extra steps below are for people who previously elected to defer taxes that they do not owe and are unable to correct the error in the interview.    

You can't defer the tax if you are showing a refund due to you and/or don't owe any SE tax.   So, if you completed the form while you were not showing a refund amount, but after entering additional information, you now show a refund - you will get a message that says ''Looks like you are not eligible for this deferral'' when you go through the interview. 

In this case, to be able to remove the adjustment in the interview, you can add another line item of Other Self-Employment income of 100K (see image below)  before you go through the interview.   Then, after your return is in a ''no refund'' state, go through the interview.  Be sure to remove the extra income you added before you file!   If you receive another error for the 0 on the worksheet, delete the 0, leave the field blank, and continue filing your return.   

I (1)added the temporary income to Schedule C - Other income, (2)went through the deferral questions again, and then (3) deleted the income.   No error.       

[mtbrady2]

@DawnC and just deleting schedule SE won't cause issues if audited or something?

[DawnC]

Oh, the Sched-SE will reappear if you need it.   But deleting may reset it.   If you have SE tax on your return, it definitely has to be included whether you defer it or not.   Sometimes, that works to remove the error.   Do you have self-employment income on your tax return or a Schedule H?    If you delete Sch SE and you have tax on it, the form will reappear, but may not have the deferral or associated error on it anymore.     @mtbrady2    When I did this in TurboTax, it did not work for me, so I had to add the extra income.  

[PDSnickles]

This may work as a solution but honestly I am wary because WHY would I say I want a deferral then enter 0? That is not logical!

So I am afraid I'll get flagged for audit or have my form rejected by doing that.
This is obviously a MAJOR BUG with TurboTax and I am not happy because I do not feel confident with my return at all. Also it wasted a LOT of my time! In fact, I deleted my entire return and started over because of this, thinking that I must have done something very wrong!

I appreciate YOUR response and HOPE you are right, but this intuitively (no pun intended) just seems wrong.
Can you comment further?
By the way I tried to go back and say NO to the question "do I want to defer" and then had TT check my return and it just went back to the same ERROR re line 18, so this is just wrong! A bug! UGH!

[PDSnickles]

Filling that in is what I originally did before I get the Line 18 error.
Because I went back to check, entered NO to "do I want to defer?" then did a CHECK of my return and ended up with the same problem: Line 18 needs to be filled in!
This is a TT bug it seems to me and why aren't they FIXING IT?? I see that this was found at least 2 weeks ago!!!