Can I enter expenses against a 1099-misc for $1,170 for a rebate for performing drought landscaping on my property, the $ reimbursed equaled what my expenses were?

[mrsweet]

The water company reimbursed me for my expenses for putting in drought tolerant landscaping.  The income reported is exactly what my expenses were.  

[PeterM · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can show the reimbursement coming in as income, then going right back out as expenses. That way, you don't pay taxes on income that wasn't really income to begin with.

You can do this on Line 21 of Form 1040 which is for Miscellaneous Income, or you can input the income and expenses on Schedule C, Business Income and Expenses...The effect will be the same either way you choose.

If you include the income on Line 21 of the 1040 just make sure to make two entries, one with the income as a positive and one with the income as a negative. You won't be able to list what the expenses were, just a total...which you'd enter as a negative.

If you enter the income and expenses on the Schedule C, you'll be able to show exactly what the expenses were for.

[squidlady]

Hello, this is different than advice someone got last year for a similar question. Please see this:

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3026388">https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3026388</a>

which starts off with "at this time it is unclear..." Has this now been clarified? We did our landscaping/turf removal in 2015 and reported the rebate of over $2500 on our 2015 return and did not report expenses. I'm asking now because I want to know if we should amend our return based on what you said above? Thanks SO much!