I sold concert tickets on StubHub for a friend - How do I report this on my taxes?

This is actually a pretty common situation. Since you received the money and will be getting the 1099, you'll need to report the full amount on your tax return, but you can also claim deductions. The proper way to handle this is to report the full gross sale amount from StubHub (what will be on your 1099) on Schedule C as self-employment income. Then you can deduct the amount you paid to your friend as a business expense on the same form. This essentially means you're only paying taxes on your "cut" which is the actual income you earned for providing the service of selling the tickets. Make sure you keep documentation of the payment you made to your friend (the Venmo receipt or bank transfer). If the amount on the 1099 is over $600, you might also want to issue your friend a 1099-NEC for the amount you paid him, though that's a bit of overkill for a one-time transaction between friends.

I had almost this exact situation last year! After spending hours trying to figure it out, I ended up using https://taxr.ai to help sort through my options. You upload your 1099 and answer a few questions about your situation, and it tells you exactly how to handle it. For your case, you're acting as a middleman/agent so you report the full amount from the 1099 on Schedule C, then deduct the amount you paid your friend as a business expense called "commissions and fees" or something similar. This way you only pay tax on your actual cut. The service walked me through all of it step by step.

Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was actually super helpful! I uploaded my StubHub 1099 and it immediately identified it as a "middleman transaction" and walked me through exactly how to report it. The guidance was really clear - report the full amount on Schedule C, then deduct what I paid to the actual ticket owner as a business expense. It even helped me calculate the correct amount to deduct after factoring in StubHub's fees, which I was getting confused about. Saved me a bunch of stress trying to figure this out on my own.

I had a similar situation last year and spent WEEKS trying to get someone at the IRS to confirm how I should report it. Calling them directly was impossible - I'd be on hold for hours only to get disconnected. Finally used https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They got me a callback from the IRS within a couple hours when I'd been trying for days on my own. The IRS agent confirmed exactly what others here are saying - report the full amount on Schedule C, then deduct the amount you passed on to your friend as a business expense. They also told me I technically should issue a 1099 to my friend if it's over $600, but admitted many people don't for one-off transactions between friends.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After several more failed attempts to reach the IRS on my own, I broke down and tried Claimyr. I was absolutely convinced it wouldn't work, but I was desperate. I got a call back with an IRS agent on the line within 90 minutes. I was honestly shocked. The agent went through my ticket selling situation (similar to the original post) and confirmed that reporting the full amount on Schedule C and then deducting the portion paid to the ticket owner as a business expense was correct. They also mentioned that I should keep detailed records of the original purchase price of the tickets and the payment to my friend in case of an audit. Definitely worth the time I saved trying to get through on my own.

One thing nobody has mentioned - if you do this regularly (selling tickets for friends or others), the IRS might consider you to be running a ticket broker business, which has different reporting requirements. If this was just a one-time thing, then yeah, Schedule C with the full amount reported and deduction for what you paid your friend makes sense. But if you're doing this regularly, you should probably consult with a tax professional who specializes in small businesses.

I work at a tax prep office and see this kind of thing a lot. Here's what we tell clients: 1. Report the FULL amount from the 1099 on Schedule C 2. Deduct the amount you paid to your friend as "Cost of Goods Sold" or as "Commissions and Fees" expense 3. Deduct any fees that StubHub charged you as a business expense 4. Keep documentation of EVERYTHING - the original ticket prices, the sale amount, what you paid your friend, etc. This way you're only paying taxes on the actual money you kept as your "commission" for helping your friend.

One more thing - keep in mind that StubHub reports the gross sales to the IRS, not the amount you actually received after their fees. So make sure you're also deducting StubHub's commission and any processing fees they charged as business expenses on your Schedule C. Otherwise you'll end up paying taxes on money you never actually received! This caught me off guard last year and I ended up paying way more in taxes than I should have. Don't make my mistake!

This is really helpful information everyone! I'm in a similar boat - helped my neighbor sell some sports tickets on my StubHub account last month and just realized I'll be getting a 1099 for the full amount. One question though - if I report this on Schedule C, does that mean I have to pay self-employment tax on my portion? That seems like a lot of extra tax for just doing a one-time favor. Is there any way to report this that doesn't trigger the self-employment tax, or is that just part of the deal when you use Schedule C? Also, should I be worried about having to register as a business or get any special licenses since I'm filing a Schedule C? I definitely don't want to accidentally trigger any business registration requirements for what was basically just helping out a friend.

Just wanted to add one more point that might be helpful - if you're concerned about the self-employment tax burden on what was essentially a one-time favor, you might want to consider whether this really rises to the level of "business activity" that requires Schedule C treatment. The IRS generally looks at factors like regularity, profit motive, and whether you're holding yourself out as providing services to determine if something is a business. For a true one-off favor where you helped a friend sell tickets, some tax professionals argue this could be treated as "other income" on Form 1040 rather than self-employment income, which would avoid the self-employment tax. However, this is definitely a gray area and the safer approach is probably what others have suggested - using Schedule C. But if the self-employment tax is going to be significant, it might be worth consulting with a tax professional to see if there's a legitimate argument for treating it differently. Either way, definitely keep all your documentation showing this was a one-time transaction to help your friend, not an ongoing business venture!