@maglib If you don't mind, I will describe what I did after reading your response, and can you let me know if this sounds correct to you?
I did the second part of what you said first. I went to the "Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other" section and input this as a "short term did not receive 1099-B" sale section. I filled out the number of stock, dates, cost basis (I guessed at this, as being the number of shares X the exercise price). It was asking me to find this information on my 1099-B (which I obviously don't have), even though I did choose that "did not receive 1099-B" choice I mentioned previously. When it asked for the brokerage, I left it blank since one was not used. Then it asked me if I knew the adjusted cost basis. I do not know what that means, so I chose "no, I need help with this", and it led me through some questions (where it asked the dates, exercise price, number of shares, the employer this was for, etc.). In this section, it actually had a spot where it had me check a box if this income was included on my W-2. I unchecked it. Once I finished inputting all of this, my estimated tax owed jumped up a BUNCH (to what I would guess is the correct amount if this amount of money were taxed at my ordinary income rate, which I think is correct since it is a short term sale?).
Does this seem to sound like the roughly correct thing to do? I wasn't sure if I still needed to do that first part that you mentioned, about adding this income under Miscellaneous Income as well. Would doing so cause me to be taxed twice on the amount, since my taxes already jumped up to around where I expected?
Thanks again for your help. I've been on hold with the Turbotax helpline for many hours today with no one answering the phone yet, so I really appreciate having someone help me out.
Edit to add - I did triple check my W-2's since you asked, and I can confirm that it did NOT appear on this year's or last year's W-2. Not in any sections (section 12 is blank for both years). This was for a very small start up company, and it's likely that they simply made a mistake here, causing this issue.
