When you earn self-employment income, you report it on a special form when filing an individual tax return. Shareholders in S corporations use Schedule E, as Schedule C is used by sole proprietors to report self-employment income.
Schedule E Basics
Schedule E is used to report many types of self-employment income along with S corporation earnings. Income includes rental real estate proceeds, partnership income, trust and estate income and royalties. The first section of the form asks for contact information and personal details of the tax filer. A person may actually report earnings from multiple sources on Schedule E. The space to report profit and loss details for an S corporation is on Page 2.
Reporting S corporation Income or Loss
When you are part of an S corporation, you should receive a K-1 statement just as a regular employee receives a W-2 statement. Copy the information from the K-1 statement into the appropriate boxes on Schedule E. The income or loss you record passes through to your personal return and adds to or subtracts from your tax obligation.