Transitioning from being employed to self-employed

[garycummins1]

Hi there!

I am currently on unemployment under the SEA (self employment assistance) program in Oregon. My assistance runs through November. During the assistance term I get unemployment benefits as long as I devote at least 40 hrs per week on my business. 

We haven't paid ourselves from business earnings, and we haven't paid quarterly taxes. We can get through 2021 without paying myself from the business if we use some savings in December. We project between $80,000 - $90,000 in billings for Q3 & Q4 for our service business. 

My question is: Can we avoid paying taxes on revenue this year by making contributions to my 401k? If so, I expect that we would pay taxes on our unemployment benefits, but is that correct?

Thanks!

[AdamNe]

@garycummins1 , Great question! 

Self-employed individuals can get deductions for retirement contributions, and the good news is that as a business owner, you can deduct the employee and employer contributions to certain plans. Keep in mind the IRS does place limits on the contributions. You can find all the information about self-employed retirement plans here: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plans-for-self-employed-people

As for the unemployment benefits, yes you will need to claim them as income on the 2021 return. 

When you are preparing your return using TurboTax, navigate to the self-employed retirement section and answer the interview questions, and the software will do the rest!