1099-MISC for other income

[jimpatgillespie1]

I have a 1099 MISC for dividend/interest income that is treated as regular income. When I enter the information into Turbo Tax, it wants to assign it as business income and wants a lot of information about the business we earned this miscellaneous income. I do enter the source of the income as interest income treated as ordinary income. The error check wants a lot of information about the business that it comes from. Not sure what to do.

[rjs]

Why is interest income reported on a 1099-MISC? Normally interest is reported on a 1099-INT and dividends on a 1099-DIV? Which box of the 1099-MISC is the income in? Who paid the interest to you? What did you earn the interest on?

Depending on what box of the 1099-MISC the income is in, there is a way to enter it so that it is shown as "other income" on your tax return, not as business income, but there is no way to enter it as interest income.

[jimpatgillespie1]

I don't know why it is reported like this. It is from a firm with which I have a number of investments. The income is reported in box 3, and the detail for the 1099-MISC says that it is for coupon interest reported as regular income. So I did check the box for "other" but it still wants me to report on Schedule C, F, or 4835 which are all business or farm income.

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Here's how to enter a 1099-MISC with income in box 3 in TurboTax so that it is reported as "other income" instead of as business income. It will be reported on Schedule 1 line 8z with the description "Other Income from box 3 of 1099-Misc."

After you enter the 1099-MISC TurboTax asks a series of questions about the 1099-MISC income. Answer as follows, even if some of the answers aren't true.

• "Describe the reason for this 1099-MISC." - It doesn't matter what you enter. Enter a short description such as "Interest." Click Continue. You will see this description used in some of the subsequent questions, but it will not appear on your tax return.
• "Does one of these uncommon situations apply?" - Select the last choice, "None of these apply," and click Continue.
• "Did the Interest involve work that's like your main job?" - Select No and click Continue.
• "How often did you get income for Interest?" - "I got it in 2023" will already be checked. Don't check any of the other boxes. Just click Continue.
• "Did the Interest involve an intent to earn money?" - Select No and click Continue.

[jimpatgillespie1]

Thank you! It worked! Much appreciated.