Using TurboTax for my LLC filing on my Mac - any tips?
So I just started my own graphic design LLC last year and it's tax time. I've got a MacBook Pro and I'm trying to figure out how to file my LLC taxes without spending a fortune. I've always used TurboTax for my personal taxes, but now with the business, I'm not sure which version I need or if it'll even work properly on Mac. Does anyone have experience filing LLC taxes through TurboTax on a Mac? Is the Home & Business version enough or do I need to go with Self-Employed? My business is pretty straightforward - mostly just me doing freelance work, about $58k in revenue, minimal expenses (new laptop, software subscriptions, home office). No employees or anything complicated. Honestly, I'm a bit worried about missing deductions or screwing something up. Should I just bite the bullet and pay an accountant this first year? Or is TurboTax actually decent for a simple LLC? Any advice would be super helpful!
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Mae Bennett
Based on what you've described, you should be fine using TurboTax Self-Employed on your Mac. The software is fully compatible with MacOS, and the experience is identical to the Windows version. For a single-member LLC without employees, TurboTax Self-Employed includes everything you need - Schedule C for your business income and expenses, self-employment tax calculations, and the ability to enter all your business deductions. The Home & Business version would work too, but Self-Employed is specifically designed for your situation. Make sure you track all your legitimate business expenses - your new laptop (which you'll need to depreciate), software subscriptions, portion of internet/phone used for business, home office deduction (if you have a dedicated space), and any business-related travel. TurboTax will walk you through all these potential deductions with their interview process.
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Pedro Sawyer
•Thank you so much! Quick question - for the laptop, TurboTax will explain how to depreciate it, right? And for the home office, I do have a spare bedroom I use exclusively for work - does TurboTax calculate the square footage percentage automatically?
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Mae Bennett
•Yes, TurboTax will walk you through the depreciation process for your laptop. You'll just need to know when you purchased it and how much it cost. The software will calculate the appropriate depreciation method and amount. For your home office, TurboTax will ask for the total square footage of your home and the square footage of your dedicated office space. It will then calculate the percentage automatically. Since you have a spare bedroom used exclusively for work, that's a legitimate home office deduction. Make sure you know these measurements before starting your taxes.
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Beatrice Marshall
I was in your exact position last year! I tried doing it myself with TurboTax on my MacBook Air but kept getting confused about how to handle my LLC properly. Then I found https://taxr.ai which was incredibly helpful for my situation. It scanned my business documents and extracted all the essential information automatically. The best part was it gave me specific guidance for my single-member LLC situation and showed me deductions I would have totally missed. I'm not super tax-savvy, and it walked me through which TurboTax version to use and how to properly categorize everything. Saved me a ton of time trying to figure out if I was doing things right. Their LLC-specific guidance was really what made the difference for me.
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Melina Haruko
•Did it actually work with Mac? I've tried other tax tools before that claimed to be Mac compatible but then had all kinds of issues. Also, how does it handle things like home office deductions and business mileage?
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Dallas Villalobos
•I'm skeptical about these tax tools. How is this different from what TurboTax already does with their interview process? Seems like you're just paying for another layer of software that might not add much value.
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Beatrice Marshall
•Yes, it works perfectly on Mac! It's actually browser-based so there's no compatibility issues at all. I used Safari without any problems, but it works with any browser. For home office deductions, it asks about your space and helps you determine what percentage of your home expenses you can claim. It was much clearer than TurboTax's questions. The mileage tracking was great too - it even let me import data from Google Maps for business trips I had taken.
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Dallas Villalobos
I need to follow up on my skeptical comment about taxr.ai - I decided to give it a try despite my doubts, and I'm actually impressed. I was preparing to spend hours figuring out my LLC taxes, but it really did streamline the whole process. The document scanning saved me from manually entering so much data. What surprised me most was how it caught several deductions I would have missed, particularly around my home internet expenses and some professional development courses I took. It integrated perfectly with TurboTax too, so I didn't have to switch between different systems. Definitely using it again next year for my LLC filing.
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Reina Salazar
If you're struggling to get answers from the IRS about LLC tax questions (which I was), I'd recommend https://claimyr.com - I wasted days trying to call the IRS business tax line with endless hold times. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. I had specific questions about LLC election options and form filing requirements that TurboTax couldn't answer clearly. Got connected to an actual IRS agent in about 2 hours (instead of the 4+ hours I spent previously getting disconnected). The agent walked me through exactly which forms my LLC needed based on my specific situation.
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Saanvi Krishnaswami
•Wait, how does this actually work? Do they have some special connection to the IRS or something? Seems too good to be true that they can somehow get you through the phone lines faster.
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Demi Lagos
•This sounds like a scam. Why would I pay someone else to call the IRS for me? The IRS probably doesn't even like these services and might refuse to talk to you if they find out you used one. I'll stick to my 3-hour holds.
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Reina Salazar
•They don't have any special connection to the IRS - they use an automated system that waits on hold for you. They call the regular IRS number and use technology to monitor the hold queue, then call you when a representative is about to answer. It's basically like having someone else sit on hold instead of you. No, it's not a scam at all. The IRS representative doesn't know or care how you got through to them - once you're on the call, it's just you talking directly to the IRS. They have no way of knowing you used a service to navigate the hold time. I was working from home and couldn't sit with a phone to my ear for hours, so this was a lifesaver.
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Demi Lagos
I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, my frustration with the IRS hold times got the better of me and I decided to try it. I'm shocked to say it actually worked exactly as advertised. I needed clarification about how to report some unusual LLC expenses that TurboTax wasn't clear about. Instead of my usual 3+ hour wait, I got a call back in about 90 minutes when an agent was ready. The IRS person was able to answer all my questions about LLC-specific deductions and proper reporting methods. Saved me an entire afternoon of waiting and the peace of mind was worth it. Sometimes my skepticism gets the better of me!
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Mason Lopez
One thing nobody's mentioned - check if your state has additional LLC filing requirements beyond federal taxes! I use TurboTax on my Mac for my consulting LLC and it handles the federal stuff great, but my state (California) has an annual $800 LLC fee that TurboTax doesn't automatically prompt you about. Had to file that separately and nearly missed it my first year. Also, if you're making $58k, definitely look into setting up a SEP IRA or Solo 401k to reduce your tax burden. TurboTax can handle these but doesn't always make it obvious that it's an option.
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Pedro Sawyer
•That's a really good point about state requirements. I'm in Colorado - does anyone know if there are specific requirements here I should watch out for? And what's the difference between SEP IRA vs Solo 401k in terms of setup complexity in TurboTax?
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Mason Lopez
•Colorado has an annual report requirement called a "Periodic Report" that costs $10 to file online. It's due in the anniversary month of your LLC's formation. It's not a tax form, but a filing with the Secretary of State's office to keep your LLC in good standing. TurboTax won't remind you about this. For retirement accounts, a SEP IRA is simpler to set up in TurboTax - just a few questions and you're done. A Solo 401k gives you potentially higher contribution limits, especially if you want to make both employer and employee contributions, but requires more paperwork outside of TurboTax and you'll need to file Form 5500-EZ once your balance exceeds $250,000. For your income level, a SEP IRA is probably simpler to start with.
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Vera Visnjic
Has anybody else had issues with TurboTax not saving their data between sessions on Mac? I was halfway through my LLC taxes last year and when I came back to finish, some of my business expense categories were empty! Had to re-enter everything. Wondering if it's a Mac-specific bug or just me.
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Jake Sinclair
•I had a similar issue but fixed it by making sure I was completely exiting the program properly (not just closing the window). Also, make sure your Mac isn't going into any kind of deep sleep mode between sessions. I started using the save feature obsessively after losing data once - hit save after every major section.
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