What is max deferral line 18 for self employment

[npierson7]

The maximum for line 18 deferral is 50 percent of the Social Security tax imposed under section 1401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code on net earnings from self-employment income for the period beginning on March 27, 2020 and ending December 31, 2020.

[gtrappealvin]

Hello, there seems to be an issue with that form in Turbo Tax because even if you say "no" to the prompt about having extra time to pay the SE tax, it still calculates and applies the deferral.  I want to pay all of the taxes now.

How do I do that or is there a fix coming soon?  I found a thread on the Turbo Tax community page and there are a number of people facing the same challenge.

Any update is appreciated.

Thanks, Gary

[gloriah5200]

If you went through the section originally to defer the se tax, then  you will need to go back through the section and re-answer the questions on the covid opportunity to defer se taxes to defer $0.  If you do not enter 0 for the amount of se tax you wish to defer, the software assumes it is the full amount since you are in that section of the return.  So, find the question asking you how much se tax you wish to defer and enter 0, so it will not calculate any.

Originally you could have "skip"ped that section to avoid it altogether, but once you have gone into it, you must be sure the answers are correct.

[asdfiwejor]

This did not work for me.

[Jill H]

When I go back through and enter yes, it tells me that I'm not eligible for the deferral so doesn't give me a place to type in $0.  (I did earn more than $400, as an aside, so I think I should be eligible?)  When I type in no, it gives me the same message.  Either way, when I go to review, it still wants me to enter an amount (that is apparently missing) on Line 18.  Any thoughts on this?  I'm stuck here and can't file until I figure it out.  Thanks!

[bjacoby72]

This did not work for me either. After deductions and everything, I am actually getting a whole $100 refund. Since my tax status is in the positive and not the negative it states that I am not eligible which kinda makes sense. This brings me to trying to finalize it. It still pops up that I must enter a value into part 3 box 18. I have no clue what I am supposed to be entering here. Should it be 0 or should it be 50% of line 3 which is 13,817 or 50% of line 4c which is 12,760? When you read the instructions for line 18 it's a little confusing.

[Reesels_36]

I dont know how to fill this portion out. 

[LinaJ2020]

The Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) gives self-employed taxpayers the option to delay paying a portion of their Social Security taxes when they meet certain requirements.

The option to defer only applies to Social Security taxes for self-employment income you earned from March 27, 2020 through December 31, 2020. This income is typically reported on Schedule C (profit or loss from business) or Schedule H (for household employees) of your tax return.

If you think you may be eligible for the self-employment tax deferral, the program will walk you through the requirements as well as calculating how much tax you owe and how much you can defer.

Note: If you've already paid your self-employment taxes or they were withheld on your W-2, you're not eligible to defer them.

To allow the program to walk you through the steps, follow here:

In TurboTax online,

• Sign into your account, select Pick up where you left off
• To the left, select Federal
• Over the top, select Deductions & Credits
• Scroll down to "Tax relief related to COVID-19" 
• Select Self-employment tax deferral

To learn more, click here: Self employment deferral

@Reesels_36

[cmarie_14]

@LinaJ2020

When I go to the section under:

Deductions and Credits > Tax Relief Related to COVID-19 > Self-Employment Tax Deferral 

it asks me if I want more time to pay my self-employment tax.

I choose no.

The next screen says, "It looks like you are not eligible for this deferral."

Then when I run the smart check, it says "Sch SE-S: Max Deferral Line 18 must be entered." And it wants me to enter a total for deferment. 

It's almost like someone coded both the "yes" and "no" answer to go to the "yes" response card, and then it gets hung up if you say "no" because they didn't code it to make the deferral amount zero.

[JoannaB2]

The maximum allowed deferral amount of self-employment taxes are calculated on the deferral worsheet of Schedule 3 line 12e and is split equally between 2021 and 2022, If allowed and elected, To enter the deferral, you may follow the steps below.

1. ​​​​​​​Login to Turbo Tax. 

2. Jump to Business tab, then click Business taxes.. 

3. Click Self-employment taxes, then continue. 

4. The screen "Some of your self-employment taxes may be eligible for deferral" click continue. 

5. Answer Yes on "Did you want more time to pay your self-employment taxes?". 

6. Next screen, enter the net self-employment income you earned from March 27, 2020 through December 31, 2020, or if you received steady self-employment income throughout the year, enter 76.5% of self-employment income. 

7. The next screen will show how much self-employment taxes you may defer, click continue.​​​​​​​ 

8. The next screen will say "okay, you're all set up", an itemized payment schedule will appear.​​​​​​​You're deferring and $ amount of your self-employment social security tax. 

• $ is due on or before  12/31/2021. 

• $ is due on or before 12/31/2022. 

See. deferral of self-employment tax deposits and payments, link for information.

[thomason85225]

This still doesn't help. I don't want to defer anything but I tried this. When I select yes to defer and choose my name a screen pops up and says I don't qualify. I don't get an option to setup anything. It still errors out on me when I try to complete the Federal review. It still wants me to enter figures on line 18.  

[JamesG1]

I am guessing that the option for the self-employment tax deferral was generated at a point when your tax return reflected:  

• A balance due, and
• Self-employment tax due. 

Subsequent entries changed:  

• Your balance due status,
• Your self-employment tax due, or
• Both. 

You may need to temporarily return your tax return to the status of: 

• A balance due, and
• Self-employment tax due. 

So that you could access the self-employment tax deferral questions and remove that benefit from your tax return because subsequent entries made that benefit no longer available.

Steps that I have found helpful are listed below.  

• Down the left side of the screen, click on Federal.
• Across the top of the screen, click on Deductions & credits.
• Under Your tax breaks, scroll down to Self-employment tax deferral.
• Click on Edit/Add to the right of Self-employment tax deferral.
• At the screen Do you want more time to pay your self-employment tax?, click Yes.
• At the screen Let's start by getting your eligible income, I have left the dollar amount that was previously entered, others change this amount to $0.
• Click on Continue.
• At the screen Tell us how much you'd like to defer, delete the dollar amount.
• Click Continue.
• Click through Federal Review to make sure than the Review issue has been removed.
• At the screen Some of your self-employment taxes may be eligible, click Skip. 

After completing these steps, you would reverse the entries that eliminated:  

• Your balance due status,
• Your self-employment tax due, or
• Both.

[HolaChico]

This does not work.

I massively increased my self-employment income to gain access to the full menu of questions related to the self-employment tax deferral. That did work. However, it didn't matter whether I said Yes or No to wanting deferral time...either way it said that I do qualify and forced me to enter 0 as my requested amount to defer.

After correcting my self-employment income, I again attempted to complete the federal review. After confirming my stimulus amounts were correct, I still get a window noting "You no longer qualify for the self-employment tax deferral". That's fine...I don't want it, didn't ask for it, and enter $0 when asked anyway.

The review problem now states "1040/1040SR Wks: Line 11 is too large." ... but it is 0 and cannot be negative. So I'm stuck again but with a different problem.

[HolaChico]

I got something to work.

I don't know if completing the process described in my prior post was necessary, but it looks like my line 11 problem was a result of having earlier entered the correct amounts for line 18 even though I don't want to defer payment.

So...I zeroed out all my self-employment income and saved it. Went through the self-employment tax deferral questions. Went through final review. THEN went back and entered the correct amount for my self-employment income. Went through the self-employment tax deferral questions. Went through final review. This allowed me to enter line 18 again, and I entered 0 for line 18 even though that is not correct. Apparently, it doesn't matter since I don't want to defer, and the error is gone. Huzzah!