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1099-K re: Concert Tickets (Personal, Not Business)

NationalParks11

Hi,

I received a 1099-K from Paypal from selling some tickets on StubHub (several transactions totaling between ~$2k-3k). These were my personal use tickets that I ended up selling because I could no longer attend. I do not have a business doing this.

The 1099-K form shows the gross amount I received and does not take into account the amount I originally paid for them or the purchase price, which I need to account for in order to offset the amount on the 1099-K form.

I looked this up on the IRS website and it mentions accounting for the offsetting costs using Form 8949, Schedule D and/or Form 1040, Schedule 1 from what I understand; however, I do not see this option on the website when I am trying to file.

Can anyone provide any help here? How do I account for this? Where do I input this if it is not a business or stocks, etc or I cannot find the correct forms?

Thanks!

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Comments

MatthewD

Most personal transactions shouldn't show up on a 1099-K. They could if your third-party payment network can't distinguish between business and personal transactions or if you mistakenly used your business payment account for a personal transaction.

Personal transactions that could show up on a 1099-K include non-business transactions like gifts or splitting a dinner bill with friends. For example, if you used Venmo to split a restaurant bill with friends and accidently used your Venmo business account, that will show up on a 1099-K. Most personal transactions aren't taxable and shouldn't be reported on your 1099-K. You only need to report a personal transaction on your tax return if you sold personal property at a gain (for more than you bought it for).

Did you sell the tickets for a gain? Let me know.

The company that issued your 1099-K should differentiate between business and personal amounts. However, if they don't, you'll need to request an updated 1099-K from them so you can report only business transactions on your return.

If the issuer of your 1099-K will not correct the form (I highly doubt Paypal will), you can report this in your account by going to Income > Business Income > 1099-K Income. At the bottom of that page, answer "yes" to the question asking, "Did you receive a 1099-K that's incorrect?" You can enter the amount that was incorrectly reported on your 1099-K on the following screens.

NationalParks11

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/1221#Comment_1221

Thanks so much for your response, Matthew.

Yes, I did sell 5 out of 6 transactions/pairs of tickets for a gain, though there is one personal refund showing on the 1099-K which is incorrect.

I think my issue is having bought them for personal use originally, not having a business, and not knowing where to input the info per the IRS' website about this type of situation and accounting for the offsetting costs/original purchase price from the amount received using Form 8949, Schedule D and/or Form 1040, Schedule 1.

MatthewD

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/1222#Comment_1222

If that is the case, then you should report the transaction on the Stocks or Investments Sold page, so the sale shows up on the Form 8949 and Schedule D. When you do that, report the cost of the 5 tickets, date purchased, and the date sold and the proceeds. Check that the Basis was NOT reported to the IRS. You will have a small capital gain.

This would be the case for anything personal that one bought and sold for a profit. For example, if one had an old Nintendo purchased it for $10 at a garage sale and sold it for $100 on Etsy. Most people probably don't report personal items sold at a gain, but the catch in your case is it was reported on a 1099-K and you must account for it.

NationalParks11

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/1223#Comment_1223

Got it, thanks! In that case, when I go to that page, it asks "Did you receive a tax form or statement for this investment sale?" and asks, "tell us which tax form, if any, you received:

1099-B (or substitute statement)
1099-S
I didn't get a tax form"

Which would be the correct choice since it is a 1099-K form?

Henry

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/1224#Comment_1224

You'll want to indicate that you didn't get a tax form. Making that selection won't tell the IRS that you didn't get a 1099-K. Rather, that question is only asked for the purposes of the software to help determine what prompts you receive on the following screens. If you were to choose Form 1099-B or 1099-S, then the subsequent screens will ask for information from those forms and will indicate in which box on the forms you will find the requested information. However, if you say that you didn't get a tax form, then you will simply be asked for information about the items you sold without reference to specific boxes on a form.

lunacyharris

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/1225#Comment_1225

Hey there, I am in the same predicament. I received a 1099-K from Paypal from Personal Ticket Sales. Are you recommending the above route or are you saying that the 1099-K should be reported AND Form 8949 and Schedule D or just Form 8949 and Schedule D?

CoryF

Thank you for this question.

When you sell an item(s) that you bought for a gain, then you need to report that sale on the Schedule D showing capital gain. This applies to personal gains as well.

Entering the 1099-K on the 2024 FreeTaxUSA software will provide promts to help you report it on the Form 8949, which will flow to the Schedule D. You still need to report the personal ticket sales if sold for a gain.

ECCowboy1

I, too, have a 1099-K for ticket sales. I profited some from what the tickets were worth. I entered the 1099-K info into the system, saying it was from "other" for place of sale, not for personal or business, only for it to not register. I do not see a "stocks or investments sold" page and am not sure how to do form 8949. Might I be directed in how to get to either of those locations? TIA

GeorgeM

Hello ECCowboy1:

To enter your ticket sales in the Investment and Savings section of our software, follow these steps:

1. After logging into your account, select the Income tab;
2. In the drop-down window, under the heading Common Income, select Investment and Savings;
3. The next screen should be “What type of investment do you want to add next?”
4. Select Other Sales given that you sold tickets, and then select Save and Continue;
5. As you continue through our software, you should see the screen “What type of other investment do you want to add?”
6. Select Personal Item Sold for a Gain;
7. Continue through our software and eventually you will see the screen “Tell us about your [name] investment sale,” and here you will be able to enter the transaction details about your ticket sales.

When you have finished entering your ticket sales, you should see your ticket sale gains on Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets.

Any personal items, such as your tickets, sold for a gain are properly reported on Form 8949.

cynthia1125

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/6974#Comment_6974

Hello, I'm in a similar situation as well. I received a 1099K form from Ticketmaster/Live Nation about the tickets I sold last year. However, the amount in Box 5 doesn't match my actual gain. The amount shown on the 1099K is more than my gains. Upon research, it seems like Ticketmaster wants us to pay an extra 10%-ish for their taxes.

My question is if my actual gains doesn't match 1099K form, what should I do? Do I enter the actual proceeds amount or the wrong amount from Box 5 on my 1099K form under the Investment section on your website?

MatthewD

Hi Cynthia1125,

Since this is a sale of a personal item, you should only report a gain. If you have a loss, then you don't need to report it.

If you have a gain, you should report the transaction on the Investment and Savings Accounts page, so the sale shows up on the Form 8949 and Schedule D. When you do that, report the cost of ticket, date purchased, and the date sold and the proceeds. Check that the Basis was NOT reported to the IRS. Deduct and fees you paid from the Sales amount. You may have a small gain to report.

ECCowboy1

What if I don’t know the dates sold for each individual ticket? I obviously purchased them all at the same time so know that date, but not each sold date as that isn’t stored in the system via my account in the app/system.

kiarab

Hello ECCowboy1,

I would recommend looking at other records, such as your bank account, Venmo, Facebook Messenger, text messages (whatever you used to help you sell them) to see if you can find that out and then record that somewhere for your personal records.

The reason why the date is important is because the software needs to know if these were short-term or long-term gains. They are taxed at different rates.

cynthia1125

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/7829#Comment_7829

Hello thanks for the response!

For example, if my actual gain for selling concert ticket is $500, but it’s showing $700 on my 1099K, I should enter my actual gain ($500) in investment and savings section and I should check Yes at the box “Did you receive a 1099K that’s incorrect” under 1099K section, and then under “Enter the amount that shouldn’t be included on your 1099K”, I should enter $200.

Is the steps above accurate?

Thanks!

JanaA

Hello cynthia1125! Your steps are on the right track, but there are a couple of things to clarify so you don't accidentally report the income twice.

In the Investment and Savings section, you'll want to enter the actual proceeds (the amount you actually received from the sale) and your original cost (what you paid for the tickets) as two separate fields. The software will then calculate your gain for you. You should not enter just the gain amount of $500 as the proceeds, because that would understate what you actually received.

Now, if you also enter the 1099-K separately in the 1099-K Income section, you would need to offset the full $700 shown on the 1099-K as the incorrect amount, not just $200. This is because the gain is already being fully reported through the Investment and Savings section, and you don't want the $700 to be counted as additional income on top of that.

The simplest approach is to report the sale only through the Investment and Savings section by entering your actual proceeds and your original cost. That way the gain flows correctly to Form 8949 and Schedule D, and you don't need to make a separate 1099-K entry at all.

summer58

Hello, I'm in a similar situation as the above - received a 1099-K for a pair of tickets I resold in 2025, however the concert hasn't happened yet and I haven't yet been paid by Ticketmaster. Is it correct that I'm supposed to file this on my taxes for 2025 even though the monetary transaction will be in 2026? Thank you.

kiarab

Hello summer58,

Generally, you are taxed on the income when you receive it. In this case, I might consider contacting Ticketmaster and see if they will correct that. If not, then the IRS will expect to see the income on your 2025 return since they received a copy of the 1099-K as well.

Eccowboy11

The tickets are for 2 separate sports teams that we could not attend due to health reasons this year. We only attended a couple of games. Tickets were sold through SeatGeek and have variable pricing per ticket/game. SeatGeek doesn’t show you the price of each ticket once they were sold nor does it keep individual ticket records. I was paid sometimes for multiple games at a time if the sold close to once another so bank statements don’t show individual games or which team. I know the total cost of the tickets minus the games that we attended, is that sufficient as the initial payment amount since I know that date for each team?

Figment67

https://community.freetaxusa.com/discussion/comment/7924#Comment_7924

Could you assist me with a similar query

I made around a dozen sales on stubhub last year. The majority of the tickets were gifted to me. Some where sales of extra tickets for something I attended, others I did not attend and sold the tickets.

I received no 1099 from stub hub and I'm confused as to where to report these earnings. Whether it constitutes self employment income, or if it should be filed as short term gains/hobby/personal

Taylor

Hello Figment67 and Eccowboy11,

For the sales of tickets you made a gain on, enter them in the software under Investments & Savings > Other Sales > Personal Item Sold for a Gain

You will need to know the original cost as well as how much it sold for and the dates associated. If you have selling expenses that aren't already deducted from the selling price, indicate Yes to Adjustments.