I am a Research Fellow placed at a nonprofit. My income is paid through the nonprofit (fellowship stipend is granted to host organization that uses funds in turn to pay me). So, my stipend (i.e, wages for employment or work) appear on a W-2. However, in addition to the annual stipend, I applied for and received professional development funds. These funds cannot be used for anything required to carry out the fellowship responsibilities at the host organization. They are intended to partially fund professional development opportunities outside the host organization/required work responsibilities (e.g., attending a conference).
These funds were reported in Box 3 of a 1099-MISC form. When I add this to my income, my federal refund goes from over $1000 to me owing about $400. Looking into this further, there is a lot of advice about what to do in order to get these funds to show on the final form as SCH, award funds, or using the other income section to remove the same amount form total income (largely, this advice is premised on the idea that it's likely that taxes wouldn't apply here and especially not as self employment).
I have read most of the posts in these forums about how to report this income correctly and have not found an answer that works.
Workarounds I have tried include:
- Reducing income by placing a negative number in the "Federal Income">"Less Common Income">"Miscellaneous Income"
- Does not work, causes a message stating that the amount cannot be less than $0
- Entering through the educational expenses screen
- Doesn't work because I am not affiliated with an institution of higher education (no 1098 received)
Please help me so I can get this done.
