How to indicate that one is self-employed?

[Cowxie]

HI all,

Doing the 2023 for my spouse (who is self-employed) and I (retired and not working), and on my T1 form I'm asked to 'tick this box if they were self-employed in 2023'.  Simply stated, TurboTax will not allow me to do so, as I get the 'you have tried to change the value of a calculated field' error message.

This leads me to a suggestion and a question:

-suggest that the software creators provide a more specific, and helpful, error message indicating where this calculated field comes from.  Like 'please see the INFOWS page (or whatever page or field is appropriate) to update this value"

-where can I update this value such that this self-employed box on my T1 is in fact correctly showing that my spouse is indeed self-employed?

Thanks for considering and I look forward to reading feedback on the above.

Cheers

/paul

[Moussi2]

Thank you for your feedback. 

Please try clearing your web browser's History, including the Cache and Cookies, this could resolve the issue. How to clear my browser cache ? 

If this does not resolve the issue, unfortunately you may need to start over the return and making sure you have selected a joint return in the introduction step. 

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[Cowxie]

Hi and thanks for replying.

Can you help me to understand why clearing my browser would fix this issue when I am using the CD installed on my desktop?  These are not a web based returns that I am preparing...

And, yes I did select 'yes' for preparing my spouse's return when I imported data from the 2022 file that contains our previously filed joint returns.

I hope that this helps to give some more relevant background, leading to a solution.

Cheers,

/paul

[Cowxie]

Thought I had an update on this topic, related to me now including income for me and my spouse.  But further review of the joint file shows that this is not the case.

Apologies for that.

Cheers,

/paul

[TurboTaxGinette]

Are you informing us that the joint return was not chosen at the beginning of the interview?

Even if you are using the Desktop/Download version, our software relies on the internet to run. As is the way with all software, cookies are collected in the background and need to be cleared from the cache to allow smooth delivery of programs. If this is not done on a regular basis certain information from different programs in your computer cache may interfere with each other. If there is still an issue once you clear your cache and restart your computer we believe your best option is to contact our telephone support team for further assistance, as they have the option to view your screen to help resolve the issue. To contact them, please follow this link: Contact Us. 

​​​​​​​Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[Cowxie]

Hi again and thank you for the further insight.

Sorry for any confusion - I do ensure that the the checkbox for processing my spouse's return is checked when I import last year's file.  And I reviewed the Personal Information box just now for this 2023 return, and I see the this checkbox for processing my spouse's return is still checked (although it is grayed out - why I do not know?).

As an aside, I import last year's file and go straight to Forms.  I do not go through the interview process, as this is time that I feel is better spent on other things.  After 25+ years of using this software and its predecessors, I'm fairly familiar with the information that CRA is looking for.

I admit that I'm surprised to hear that there is a need to have a cleared cache for this standalone CD-installed version of software to run 'properly'.  I get that there is a need to register it before use, to ensure it is a legitimate copy.  And I get that the software checks for updates each and every time it starts up.  But after that, if it is standalone...?  Are you saying that if I lost my internet connection that I would not be able to use this standalone software?  Please explain...

Many thanks and Cheers

/paul

[TurboTaxGinette]

Although TurboTax Desktop lets you download and install TurboTax software on your personal computer, the internet is still used for updates. You'll be able to work on your taxes, even if you're not connected to the Internet. Your information will be stored on your personal hard drive.

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[Cowxie]

I had doubts about your suggestions to address this matter @TurboTaxGinette, and was hopeful that I would be proven wrong. 

Alas, this is not the case... clearing cookies and rebooting the desktop has not resulted in my spouse's self-employment tick box being checked.

I'll contact the support group that you suggested, and will post any further relevant info and hopefully a solution after speaking with that group.

Thanks for your consideration and suggestions.  Stay tuned for more, as I will share what I learn for your benefit and that of others.

Cheers,

/paul

[Moussi2]

Thank you for your feedback.

[Cowxie · Accepted solution]

Update:

With the assistance of the TurboTax telephone support, and a level 2 support individual, we learned that the check box on the T1 form indicating self-employment requires two things:

-there must be non-zero values on at least one of the two T2125 forms.  That is, a non-zero value for fees or sales, and/or a non-zero value for expenses. 

-In addition, there is a radio button in the Easy Step questionaire asking whether one has been self-employed. 

Both of these must be true for the self-employment check box to be 'checked'.

Feedback was left with telephone support that improving the override error messaging to include more details would be very helpful to users.  In this case, a simple explanation stating that the self-employment check box gets checked when T2125 form is appropriately completed along with noting in the Easy Step that the user is self-employed would have solved this problem.

Hope that what we've all learned here today helps others out.

Cheers,

/paul