IP royalties

[Max C]

I've never been self employed. I've been retired for 4 years. Every year I get a couple of royalty checks from my longtime employer for my share of income for licensed IP that I contributed to developing. This year when doing my taxes on TurboTax, the instructions led me to paying self-employment tax on this income, which doesn't seem right! I'm not working, I'm just getting paid for something I did in the past. Did TurboTax steer me wrong? Did I make a mistake in how I declared this income? How should it be reported?

[Michele_H]

Hi @Max C  here is what the information related to Royalty income.

Royalties from copyrights, patents, and oil, gas and mineral properties are taxable as ordinary income. 

You generally report royalties in Part I of Schedule E (Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR), Supplemental Income and Loss.  However, if you hold an operating oil, gas, or mineral interest or are in business as a self-employed writer, inventor, artist, etc., report your income and expenses on Schedule C.   This may have been reported incorrectly on the return this year.  You may consider having a review of your return to make sure that it has been being done correctly.