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February 19, 2021
Question

Is anyone else getting an erroneously generated "Deferral for Certain Schedule H and SE Filers Smart Worksheet" that can't have a valid Line 11 value?

  • February 19, 2021
  • 1 reply
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We answered "no" to the question of "would you like to defer," and we are ineligible to defer because we're getting a refund. The invalid deferral worksheet is preventing TT from finalizing the return

1 reply

KathrynG3
February 23, 2021

This error is being seen by taxpayers in similar situations. How to resolve it depends why Schedule 3, Line 12e would be in your return. Schedule 3, Line 12e, refers to both Schedule H or SE filers.

 

The error is generated because the system needs to update. Perhaps initially when entering your details, you were going to owe taxes. Then, as more details were entered, the status changed to a refund. 

 

This would have made any tax deferral of Self Employment tax on Sch H or Sch SE tax no longer valid.

 

To get past this error, first try entering a blank as a response. If there is a 0 or spaces in this cell, delete them.

 

In either case, you must get back temporarily to owing money in order to decline the deferral. Then, go back to your current details to resolve the issue.

 

To do this in TurboTax, follow these steps:

 

If you are filing Schedule H, try deleting Schedule H using the steps included for deleting Sch SE-T. Then, re-enter Schedule H.

To delete Schedule H:

  • From the left menu, select Tax Tools.
  • Select Tools.
  • Scroll to Delete a Form.
  • Scroll to Sch H select Delete and Delete Selected Form and Continue.

To Re-add Schedule H:

  • In the search box, enter sch h.
  • Click the Jump to link and continue through the interview. The first page will be: About Your Nanny or Household Employees.

 

If you are self-employed:

First, revisit the section for the Self-employment tax deferral entry and accept it, change it, and then decline it by deferring 0:

  1. Return to the Deductions & Credits section.
  2. Scroll to Tax relief related to COVID-19 and Show More.
  3. Select Self-employment tax deferral and select Revisit.
  4. Answer Yes at the next screen to get back to Let's start by getting your eligible income.
    1. If you do not want to defer any self-employment income, at "Enter your eligible self-employment income", you have three options. Try them in the following order:
      1. Enter nothing--be sure the cell is completely blank.
      2. Enter (as in 0 is the portion of self-employment I will defer) OR 
      3. Enter 280/366ths of your income to reflect the income from March 27-December 31, 2021.
    2. Select Continue.
    3. At Tell us how much you'd like to defer
      1. "Enter amount" should be blank if you entered blank above.
      2. Enter 0 if you entered 0 or 280/266ths of income above.
    4. Select Continue.
  5. Scroll down and select Wrap up Tax Breaks and Continue.
  6. I recommend running through the Federal Review again.

Secondly, 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.
March 13, 2021

hello Kathryn,

 

  I have a question about this form. I have already filed my taxes and received my refund, but it's short $854 due to this SChedule H that was not shown to me before my refund was deposited. In fact, the IRS site and turbo tax are still saying we should be getting the total amount that includes the missing 854.

 

I am a sole prop, I sell on Etsy and my own website. I do not have any household employees. Is this possible to fix?

March 16, 2021

You can amend your 2020 taxes to correct that error.  Here is how to amend:

 

First, make sure you really need to amend and that your 2020 return was accepted in TurboTax Online or paper-filed through the mail. You can't amend a return that hasn't been filed yet.

IRS Form 1040-X (amend your return) will be ready on March 25, 2021. Sign up for email notification and we'll let you know when the most current form is available.

When you're ready to amend, find your situation below and follow the instructions.

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