How do I deduct construction materials used for my jobs (lumber, concrete etc)? I can't find a place anywhere to input this info. I am self employed.

[cwolves2u]

I have searched "cost of goods and services", "other expenses" and everything else suggested online,  but turbotax has nothing.

[Raman1]

Enter this as "Cost of Goods" in the section after you enter your income on the Business Statement - T2125.

In TurboTax Self-Employed, you do not actually enter the Cost of Goods Sold into the program. Rather, you enter your beginning inventory, purchases, and ending inventory and the program will calculate the COGS for you.

Here are the few steps you can follow, to figure out the cost of goods sold in self-employed,

1. Go to Inventory/Cost of Goods Sold and click Start or Update.
2. Say Yes, I have inventory to report.
3. Answer the question about how you value your inventory.
4. Enter the inventory at the beginning and end of the year.
5. Enter on the next screen the costs that you had for the year in purchasing or making your inventory.  
The cost of goods sold is figured automatically and put on the second page of your Schedule C.  It is equal to Purchases for the year + beginning inventory – ending inventory.  
That number goes to page 1 of your Schedule C, on line 4.  That gets subtracted from line 1, gross receipts, to get your gross profit, which is line 5 of your Schedule C. 

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[cwolves2u]

I can’t find the inventory/cost of goods sold section. When I search this it doesn’t exist. The only sections I have are self employment intro, business or professional activities, farming activities,fishing activities, and self employment summary. When I go to the summary it says $0 under cost of goods sold, but I can’t find anywhere to add the information. 

[Raman1]

You can’t use the Find tool to search for the Inventory section, as it’s inside the Self-Employment part of the interview. 

If you have already entered your business information, you can go to the Summary page, click on Edit next to your business, and then click on “Income and inventory”. Continue through the inventory pages until you get to the “Did you sell products that you bought or manufactured?” page, where you should answer “Yes”. Then the Inventory/Cost Of Goods boxes will appear.

If you are still not able to resolve your issue, please contact our phone support team at 1-888-829-8608

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.

[cwolves2u]

Thank you, I have found this page, but I have no opening and closing inventory as I purchase all of my construction materials when I do the actual job. Anything left over I leave with the client.  do I input “0” for opening and closing? 

[cdanhaug]

I've been through the "Income and inventory" questions multiple times, and at no point did it ask me, "Did you sell products that you bought or manufactured?"

I have a pile of job related expenses here with nowhere to enter them.

[TurboTaxSusan]

@cdanhaug When you started entering your business information, did you choose “professional” as your business type? If so, you will not see an inventory page, instead you’ll see a page for Adjusting Professional Income for Work in Progress. If that is the page you are seeing, you’ll have to delete the business that you have started and start a new one with “Business” as the type.

For tax purposes, designated professionals are defined as people such as accountants, lawyers, dentists, doctors, veterinarians and chiropractors.

[Thomas1012]

What he is saying is, he buys lumber and materials to build whatever he is building for the homeowner and your expenses page is not friendly to the construction type business at all. I’m in the same boat i have tens of thousands of dollars spent on concrete and materials for my business and have no where to input it into my expenses. The “inventory” page is way too confusing for this type of thing. 

[TurboTaxBrenda]

Can you please let us know if you are using TurboTax Online or TurboTax Download so that we can assist you?

Thank you for choosing TurboTax.