Paying taxes on my LLC - confused about Schedule C, SE, 8995, and 1120S forms, need guidance ASAP!

You're not missing anything major! The confusion comes from different LLC tax treatments. As a single-member LLC, you're taxed as a "disregarded entity" by default, which means your business income goes on Schedule C, just like you did. Schedule SE is for self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare), which you should have been prompted to complete if you showed profit on your Schedule C. FreeTaxUSA probably calculated this behind the scenes - check your completed return to see if there's a SE tax amount. Form 1120S is only for LLCs that have elected S-Corporation status with the IRS (using Form 2553). This is a completely different tax treatment that you didn't elect, so you don't need Form 1120S. Form 8995 for the Qualified Business Income deduction was correct to include. FreeTaxUSA should work fine for a single-member LLC. All you typically need are: - Schedule C (business profit/loss) - Schedule SE (self-employment tax) - Form 8995 (qualified business income deduction) The videos you're watching might be discussing different LLC situations or tax elections that don't apply to your specific situation.

I was in your exact situation with my consulting LLC last year! I spent hours trying to figure out whether I was missing forms or doing something wrong. Eventually I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my tax docs and situation. It's an AI system that specializes in small business tax analysis. I uploaded my previous return, answered some questions about my LLC, and it confirmed I was filing correctly as a single-member LLC. It explained which forms were relevant to my situation and which weren't. It also pointed out some deductions I had missed that saved me about $1,200! The peace of mind was honestly the best part though. Before using it, I was totally stressed about possibly doing my LLC taxes wrong and facing penalties. Might be worth checking out if you want to confirm everything's on track and optimize your business tax situation.

Just wanted to follow up - I decided to try out taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and wow, what a lifesaver for my small business taxes! I was in the same boat as OP with confusion about forms, especially around self-employment tax. The analysis showed me that my tax software was correctly calculating SE tax (even though I never saw the form), but I was missing several home office deductions and mileage tracking that could have saved me about $800 last year. It also explained exactly which forms my single-member LLC needed vs. what would be required if I elected S-Corp status. Definitely recommend it for any small business owners feeling confused about their tax situation. Wish I'd known about it last year!

I had major issues getting answers from the IRS about my LLC tax questions last year - was on hold for HOURS and kept getting disconnected. Finally used https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They basically call the IRS for you, navigate the phone tree, wait on hold, and then call you when they have an agent on the line. I was seriously skeptical but desperate after trying to get through myself for weeks. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed that as a single-member LLC, I only needed Schedule C, the self-employment tax calculation (which is Form SE but many software programs handle it behind the scenes), and Form 8995 if I qualified for the business income deduction. The agent also explained that Form 1120S is ONLY for LLCs that have elected S-Corporation status, which isn't automatic. Definitely worth it if you need official clarification directly from the IRS rather than trying to piece together info from random YouTube videos!

I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate to resolve an issue with my LLC's tax ID number that was preventing me from e-filing. It actually worked exactly as described. They called me back after about 45 minutes with an IRS representative on the line. The rep confirmed my EIN information and fixed the database issue that was causing my returns to be rejected. What would have been days or weeks of frustration was resolved in under an hour. For time-sensitive tax issues or confirmation about filing requirements like OP asked about, it's definitely worth considering. Glad to discover something that actually helps navigate the IRS maze.

One thing nobody mentioned yet that's important: if your LLC is very new, make sure you've filed Form 8832 to elect how you want to be taxed! By default single-member LLCs are taxed as disregarded entities (Schedule C), but you can elect corporation treatment. You have 75 days from formation to make this election, otherwise you're stuck with the default for a while. Also, regardless of which tax software you use, make sure you're tracking all business expenses properly. I use QuickBooks Self-Employed which automatically categorizes expenses and calculates quarterly estimated tax payments. It's a lifesaver for tracking everything throughout the year rather than scrambling at tax time.

Has anyone here actually used FreeTaxUSA for their LLC taxes? I'm considering switching from TurboTax because of the cost but worried it might miss something important for my photography business.

I've been using FreeTaxUSA for my consulting LLC for 2 years now and it's worked well for me. The key thing to understand is that it DOES handle all the necessary forms for single-member LLCs - it just processes some of them behind the scenes. When you complete Schedule C in FreeTaxUSA, it automatically calculates your self-employment tax (Schedule SE) and includes it in your return. You won't see a separate SE form, but if you look at your final tax summary, you'll see the SE tax amount listed. Same thing happens with most other tax software. For your situation, you filed correctly! You don't need Form 1120S unless you specifically elected S-Corporation status (which requires filing Form 2553 with the IRS). The YouTube videos you watched were probably covering different LLC scenarios. One tip: FreeTaxUSA's business expense interview could be more thorough, so make sure you're claiming all eligible deductions. Keep good records of home office expenses, equipment purchases, travel, and client entertainment - these can add up to significant savings for video production work. The anxiety is totally normal - LLC taxation seems way more complicated than it actually is when you're doing it for the first time!