1099-misc for Student Loan Repayment

[kochkv]

My wife's employer is paying towards her student loans for her. We received a 1099-misc from the employer which we believe is for the amount that they payed in student loan repayment. My understanding is that we will owe taxes on this amount.  My question is after I enter the 1099, turbo tax asks if this was for work like her main job. If I answer yes, during the final review turbo tax wants to know information about my wife's business since it thinks the 1099 was for a personal business but it was from her employer and she does not have a business. The only way around this that i found is to say that the 1099 did not involve work like her main job but i am not sure if this is true. Any help on how to enter this information?

[KarenM90]

Student Loan payments made by employers are subject to employment taxes so you will need to complete Form 8919 in TurboTax.  

Enter "Form 8919" in the Search bar and choose the Jump to Link.  

Continue through the screens until you get to the one that says "Enter Source of Other Earned Income" and has a checkbox (which you will select) that says "Employee Compensation that was not reported on W-2"  

Continue through the interview for Form 8919 as it relates to the 1099 you received.

As an aside to this, if your wife is still a student you may qualify for one of the tuition deductions or credits since you are paying taxes on the funds recieved from her employer.  Here is some additional information regarding these credits and deductions:  Education Credits Available   Tuition and Fees Deduction

[kochkv]

Thank you for the response so far. I looked again and the W2 and 1099-misc are not actually from the same exact employer. Her W2 is from the physicians group branch of a hospital that she works for but the 1099 is from the main hospital (different EIN/TIN). Will this make any difference in the approach you laid out? 

[JohnW222]

This shouldn't make any difference.