I have a 1099MISC for investment income that ought to be treated as ordinary income. TurboTax wants to treat it as self-employment income. How do I handle this?

[Hal_Al]

What box # on the 1099-Misc, is the $ in?
What did you do to  be paid this money?

[hardikmodi]

It's in box 3. It was investment income, but my finance guy says it should be taxed as ordinary income. Thanks SO MUCH for your help!

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

The IRS considers anything in box 7 of 1099-MISC to be self employment income. TurboTax (TT) aggressively steers you in that direction, even if the amount is in box 3. If you try reporting box 7 income as anything else, you chances of hearing from the IRS are very high.

 That said, the key to getting TT to treat it as other income is to follow these steps:

 Enter the 1099-Misc

On the next screen Describe what the payment was for

On the next screen select "none of these apply"

On the next screen select "No it didn't involve work like my main job"

On the next screen select "I got it in 2018" ONLY

On the next screen select No, it didn't involve intent to earn money

TT will put the amount on line 21 (schedule 1) of form 1040 as other income