My 1099 misc for royalties keeps going under business and it has nothing to do with my business, it is personal income

[rettatexas]

I originally put it under business and realized this was wrong so I deleted it and now every time I try to enter it goes to business

[AmandaR1 · Accepted solution]

It sounds like your royalties are not under box 2 or are related to your business (which the software determines based on your follow up questions).

"Royalty" income is either reported under schedule E for Royalties, which is passive income, or if it's related to your business, under business income. If you do work related to the royalties, it will be treated as business income. 

You can review your questions, following where you entered the form and test what happens if you change your answers (to understand what is triggering it to be put under business). 

If you do no work related to earning these royalties, then it will be reported as passive income (form 1040 line 17) if you report them under:

1. Open your return
2. Under the Business tab, select to get to the listing 
3. Scroll down to the Rental Properties and Royalties (sch E) section and click Start/Update
4. Answer the questions and you'll be able to indicate this is a Royalty payment, under Is this Rental Property or Rental?