You need to explain the circumstances of getting this 1099-misc. Who gave you the gift cards and why? Would did you do for them*.
The IRS considers
anything in box 7
of 1099-MISC to be self employment income. TurboTax (TT) aggressively steers
you in that direction. If you try reporting box 7 income as anything else, you
chances of hearing from the IRS are very high.
That said, the key to
getting TT to treat it as other income is to follow these steps:
Enter the 1099-Misc
On the next screen
Describe what the payment was for
On the next screen
select "none of these apply"
On the next screen
select "No it didn't involve work like my main job"
On the next screen
select "I got it in 2016" ONLY
On the next screen
select No, it didn't involve intent to earn money
TT will put the amount
on line 21 of form 1040 as other income
See http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Jul/20091639.htm
*You say the Gift cards were received because of some online training. that usually means you were being trained to perform some service for them. Just because you didn't go any further, with them, doesn't necessarily mean it isn't self employment income. But, it may qualify for the "one time gig" exception.
