I received a refund from a business expense. is this considered a business income?

[ThomasM · Accepted solution]

Yes, if you took a deduction for it on a prior year return, then you would add it back to income in 2016.  If you claimed the deduction on the 2016 return and just received the refund now, in 2017, then that'll go as income on next year's return (assuming you work on a calendar year).  You can call it "Refund of prior yr expenses" or something similar.

If no deduction was taken, then you don't need to claim it as income.

[designer-rc]

Thank you. I deducted the amount in 2015. Where should I enter the amount in Turbotax 2016? Should it be "Other Income in Turbotax which goes into Schedule C line 6? Also, where can I say "Refund of prior yr expenses" in the form or Turbotax?

[ThomasM]

Upon further reflection, the cleanest way to do this is to enter it on the 2016 Schedule C as a negative expense.  It will appear as a line item on page 2 Part V of the Sch C (Other Expenses) and TurboTax will subtract it from the total expenses.  Simple & clean.

You'll do this in the Business Expenses section by selecting "Other Common Business Expenses," then scroll to the bottom of the "Let's Write off some business expenses" page and select "Other Misc Expenses."  You'll be shown a write-in grid where you can write "refund of expenses" and then enter the amount using the "dash" symbol to denote negative.

[villi]

I received a refund from a business expense to purchase supplies in the same year, it was adjusted back to my account so (in effect), I didn't make the purchase. Now does that show as income or what category do I count it in?

[Anonymous]

since you got a refund in the same year reduce the expense.