How do I enter a 1099-K for personal item sales?

Form 1099-K tracks income you receive, usually through credit cards or processors like PayPal, Venmo, Square, Etsy, Uber, or Ebay, for selling goods or providing services.

You should receive a 1099-K if you made over $20,000 from more than 200 transactions.

Selling personal objects is different from self-employment income or hobby income.

Examples of personal items include:

• Baseball cards
• Concert or movie tickets
• Used computers or electronics
• Cars
• Used clothes

Follow these steps to enter your 1099-K using TurboTax Premium:

1. Sign in to TurboTax and open your return.
2. Select Search and enter 1099-k.
3. Select Jump to 1099-k.
4. Select Yes on the Did you get a 1099-K? screen.
5. Choose how you’d like to enter your 1099-K.
6. When asked What type of income is your 1099-K for?, select Personal item sales and Continue.
7. Enter your 1099-K info and Continue.
   • If applicable, select This amount in box 1a is too high or includes some personal transactions and enter the amount not subject to tax (like gifts and reimbursements).
8. On the Personal Item Sales screen, choose if either all your items were sold at a loss/no gain or if only some of your items were sold at a loss/no gain.
9. On Your 1099-K summary, select Done.
10. On the Wages and income screen, select Start or Edit/Add next to Investments and Savings (1099-B, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-K, Crypto).
11. On the Your investments and savings screen, select Review under Personal item sales (1099-K)/the name of your 1099-K issuer. 
12. Fill out the info on the Now, enter one sale screen and select Continue.
    • Make sure Personal items is selected under What type of investment did you sell?
    • The Total amount paid should be the amount you originally paid for the item.
13. Continue through the screens. On the Review your sales screen, select Add another sale if necessary. If not, select Continue. 

Each gain or loss from a personal item sale needs to be reported separately. If you had a loss on the sale of any personal item, it can't cancel out any gain on the sale of another personal item.

Example: Tyrone bought a couch for $400 and sold it two years later for $200. Since he sold it for less than his original purchase price, the loss can't offset other income, and the sale would be reported as $0 on his tax return. However, when Tyrone bought a table for $200 and sold it for $300 two years later, he had to report the $100 gain as taxable income.