I work for a preschool, and applied last year for a grant/stipend through the Early Learning Coalition of my area in Florida. This particular stipend was a "stipend to offset increased medical care costs", and was a lump sum payment of $2000. No strings attached/conditions on the cash received. So I did not perform any sort of labor or services for the company I got the money from. This has made inputting it confusing. Do I truly need to report this as 1099 NEC and pay self employment taxes? Is it categorized as business income even though I did not do any work for it? Does it count as qualified business income? Is there another area this income could more accurately be listed? None of the options feel accurate, since I didn't do any business with the organization that supplied it, so I don't really know what to put for the activity that provided the income beyond "stipend". Is there any way to minimize the taxes paid on this?
