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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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,
To learn more, click here: Self employment deferral
@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.
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.
Jump to Business tab, then click Business taxes..
Click Self-employment taxes, then continue.
The screen "Some of your self-employment taxes may be eligible for deferral" click continue.
Answer Yes on "Did you want more time to pay your self-employment taxes?".
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.
The next screen will show how much self-employment taxes you may defer, click continue.
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.
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.
I am guessing that the option for the self-employment tax deferral was generated at a point when your tax return reflected:
Subsequent entries changed:
You may need to temporarily return your tax return to the status of:
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.
After completing these steps, you would reverse the entries that eliminated:
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.
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!
Congratulations!
IRS Form SE line 18 is Enter the portion of line 3 that can be attributed to March 27, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
The self-employment tax deferral is an optional benefit. You only report a dollar amount as eligible income to qualify for the credit.
I had the same issue. I just finished talking to Intuit agent to help me. If you just blank out those zeros ( don't type and number, just delete the zero). That took care of the problem and I was able to submit it my taxes electronically.
I also had this problem. I do not want to defer anything and before finding this thread, plugged the number it was requesting into line 18. Now I cannot get back to line 18 to write "$0" as others are suggesting. I am still answering "No" when it asks if I want to defer anything, but my refund is not reducing to where it was before I completed line 18. How do I get back to that screen?
Consider adding temporary income to your self-employment activity. You have to be in a balance due status to be able to access the self-employment tax deferral questions.
In TurboTax Online Self-Employed, I was able to remove self-employment tax deferral and pass Review. Follow these steps.
The self-employment tax deferral is an optional benefit. It is also a deferral rather than forgiveness, so those amounts will eventually need to be repaid. Half of the deferred amount is due on December 31, 2021, and the other half is due on December 31, 2022.
This did not work. I still received the message I don't qualify now for the deferral because I'm owed a refund. I think it is the issue someone mentioned earlier about showing a balance when originally going through the questions versus at the end. What did work, however, was massively increasing my self employment income as someone else suggested. Then I went to the section in Deductions on Deferring and was able to answer $0 to what I wanted to defer. I then went back and corrected my self employment income, which took my refund down to what I know is right and I passed the review. Seems there were quite a few bugs this year. (From a long time Turbo Tax user)
What do I put on there..it tells me line 18 has to ne entered
If you do not want to defer self-employment tax, leave that space (line 18) blank.
If you still see the error, enter 0.
I have also seen that unchecking a box about printing when you see the screen asking about the error lets you move forward.