Turbotax won't let me file, becuase it says "1040/1040SR Wks: Line 11 is too large." But I have entered zero (the smallest I am allowed to enter). What do I do?

[expatsp]

I do not, in any case, wish to defer any self-employment tax.

[KathrynG3 · Accepted solution]

This is a question because of initially qualifying to defer a portion of your self-employment tax, before all the details were entered into the return. Once a refund was established, the deferral was no longer an option.

If you return to the section directly, you may not see the screens necessary to adjust this since you no longer qualify for the option.

The easiest and fastest solution is to enter nothing--leave the response blank.

But, if you are still experiencing unexpected results, then temporarily trigger a balance due by adding income long enough to decline the SE tax deferral option, then remove the extra income.

To do this in TurboTax, follow these steps:

Enter a temporary amount as income in the self-employment section that will result in you not having a refund.

1. From the left menu, select Federal.
2. From the Income & Expenses, scroll to Self-employment income & expenses and Edit/Add.
3. At Your 2020 work summary, select Edit.
4. Under INCOME, select Add income for this work.
5. Add Other self-employed income, includes 1099-K, cash, and checks and Continue.
6. At Type of income, enter Temp income to remove deferral and enter a large amount, such as $100,000 and Continue.

Decline to defer any self-employment tax.

1. From the left menu, click on Federal.
2. Click the second tab from the left, Deductions & Credits.
3. Scroll down to Tax Relief related to Covid-19 and Revisit.
4. Select Self-employment tax deferral and select Revisit.
5. Answer Yes at the next screen to get back to Let's start by getting your eligible income.

1. Enter 280/366ths of your income to reflect the income from March 27-December 31, 2021. 
   1. This amount should be the same as the correct amount on Line 18 of Sch SE.

1. Select Continue.
2. At Tell us how much you'd like to defer, 
   1. Enter 0.

Remove the temporary income.

1. From the left menu, select Federal.
2. From the Income & Expenses, scroll to Self-employment income & expenses and Edit/Add.
3. At Your 2020 work summary, select Edit.
4. Under INCOME, select the Trash can icon next to Temp income to remove deferral and Continue.

For more details, see TurboTax Expert @DawnC's answer here, about 2/3 down the page: Resolve Sch SE-T Max Deferral Line 18 must be entered.

If the error is still in the return, it is because Sch SE-T or Sch SE-S is not updating properly. To update the return automatically, it is best to close out completely and close the browser, as well. Re-open in Chrome on a PC.

1. Delete the Sch SE that applies--(Sch SE-T is for Taxpayer, Sch SE-S for Spouse)--by following these steps:
   1. From the left menu, select Tax Tools.
   2. Select Tools.
   3. Scroll to Delete a Form.
   4. Scroll to Sch SE-T and/or Sch SE-S and select Delete.
2. Return to the self-employment income & expenses interview in the Income & Expenses section and select Edit/Add.
   1. Select Edit for your business.
   2. Scroll down to Done so that the Sch SE is recalculated. 
   3. Finish any other questions in the self-employment interview and click Continue.
3. Review the return again.

[expatsp]

Thanks! That was way more complicated than it should have been (maybe you can let the software folks know about this bug!) but the fix worked.

[cruise33]

I have everything that you showed, even deleting the of the Sch SE with the tax tools and when I try to file, it goes back to the "review" and askes for an amount.  It won't except "0" 

Could I just delete the  the form, could I try and eFILE without it?  Would it work?

I am a self-employed travel agent and have a net operating loss for 2020.   

Also, I never received my second stimulus check for $600 (on the GOV online follow yup, it says it was mailed) but I never received it.  So I showed that info and now my return shows I would have a $600  Refund. 

[fanfare]

don't enter zero.

Make line 11 blank or empty.

then you won't have a number that is too large.

[fanfare]

Line 11.

[rajputtankini]

I came looking for the "Sch SE-T max deferral line 18 is too large" error message fix, but this suggestion worked, likely for the same reason. JUST DELETE ANY ANSWER AND LEAVE BLANK, I did and it let me efile.