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Business & farm
So, you received several 1099-MISC with box 7 amounts. The IRS will assume that box 7 income is from self-employment. You need to report the income on schedule C, and you can also deduct legitimate work-related expenses. You also generate a schedule SE and pay self-employment tax, the self-employment version of social security and medicare tax (15% on top of income tax).
Turbotax will automatically assume that 1099-MISC box 7 is self-employment and will advise you to fill out a schedule C using the home & business version, unless you answer some questions about the income very aggressively that it is not self-employment. (You have to say things like, it is not similar to your usual work, you did not intend to earn money, you did not do similar work in the past and don't plan to in the future, etc.) In that case turbotax will put the income on line 21 "other income."
So there are many possibilities.
1. You are self-employed and you forgot to report some income from 1099-MISCs.
•Answer: amend your return and pay the tax you owe. The IRS calculation of your tax may be wrong since they don't account for deductible expenses, preparing an amended return will show what you really owe.
2. You are self-employed and you did report the income but you did not enter the 1099-MISC directly into turbotax, instead you entered "income not reported on a 1099-MISC."
•Answer: amend your return to add the 1099-MISC and remove the corresponding other income, and send it with a letter explaining that you did originally include the income, just not in the way they were expecting, so that now you have added the 1099-MISC it doesn't actually change your tax.
3. You didn't realize you were considered self-employed and you answered the questions to get turbotax to put the income on the wrong line.
•Answer: amend to remove the 1099-MISC from other income and add them back as self-employment income on schedule C. You'll owe self-employment tax but your income tax won't change much. It may even go down if you have deductible business expenses.
4. You believe the 1099-MISC are in error, the income should have been in box 3 (other income) and this was not income earned for working. Instead, it was a prize, award, scholarship, or something else that was not earned from working.
•Answer: your tax return is correct and you need to write a letter to the IRS explaining what the income is from and why you believe it is not self-employment income.
Maybe other possibilities too. We can't see your return or your letter.