Turbo Tax Info Feb 2019

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mrs080peel
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Turbo Tax Info Feb 2019

Post by mrs080peel »

Hi all,

Wasn't sure which tax-related thread to add to, so I'm making a new one just for this information. I ran into an issue filing my taxes via Turbo Tax this year and paid the extra $80 for the "live consultant" to help me out. She was extremely helpful and I do recommend the service, but I figured I'd share what I learned here so no one else has to pay for that.

**Disclaimer: I am not a tax expert, so you should consult with a professional to do your taxes.** Just sharing what I learned.

Last year, I filed via Turbo Tax and put Scholarship earnings (that were reported in Box 7 on 1099-MISC) on a separate page specifically for Scholarships/Grants/Fellowships. My income was then reported on Line 21 of the 1040 Form.

This year, for some reason, I had trouble finding that page. So, I reported my earnings (Box 3 on 1099-MISC this year) under the regular "Income" tab on Turbo Tax, but I kept getting results stating I owed $11,000 in taxes because it counted me as self-employed.

Here's how that was resolved: After I entered the 1099-MISC information under the Income tab, Turbo Tax asked me if I have earned this income previously and if I expect to earn it in the future. Initially, I clicked that I did earn it in 2017, 2018, and I anticipate to earn it in 2019 (I am a 2017 cohort and still in grad school.) However, apparently that triggered some "Intent to Earn" claim which I guess then counted me as self-employed. After I deleted my initial entry, I re-entered the information for 1099-MISC, but this time only clicked that I earned this income in 2018. This brought me to a more appropriate range of taxes, sub $4000. For this year's 1040 form, my income is again listed in line 21 and I was not considered self-employed.

Again, I am not a tax expert and I do not guarantee this is the appropriate way to do this.

scheff

Re: Turbo Tax Info Feb 2019

Post by scheff »

You da real MVP. I literally just spent over an hour with a Turbo Tax Live Agent trying to figure out what the hell was going wrong. Thank you so much for posting this!

jwbru

Re: Turbo Tax Info Feb 2019

Post by jwbru »

Thanks for this information. I am currently looking to future tax years to anticipate what I will be owing. For TY 2018, was the stipend reported in box 3 or box 7 of the 1099-MISC form?

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