K1 versus 1099-B for investment gains/losses - how to file properly in TurboTax?

I'm a bit confused about my tax filing situation this year. I invested in a couple of companies that issue K-1 forms. I ended up selling one at a loss, and another one made a tiny gain. Now here's where I'm getting confused - all these gains and losses are showing up on the 1099-B form I got from Robinhood. Someone told me that I only need to file using the 1099-B since it supposedly has the same information as the K-1 forms, and entering both would just be duplicating the same info. But I want to make absolutely sure I'm doing this correctly - I'd rather pay extra taxes than mess up my filing and deal with problems later. Does anyone know if I should be including both the K-1 forms AND the 1099-B when I file? I use TurboTax for my taxes if that makes any difference to how I should handle this. Any insight would be super helpful!

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19 comments

Camila Jordan

This is actually a common misunderstanding. K-1 forms and 1099-B forms report different types of information, and you typically need to report both. The 1099-B from Robinhood shows your proceeds from selling the investments - essentially reporting the sales transaction itself. The K-1, on the other hand, reports your share of the partnership/S-corp's income, deductions, credits, etc. throughout the year you owned it. These are two different tax events that both need to be reported. In TurboTax, you'll want to enter both forms. First, enter all your 1099-B information (which TurboTax might be able to import directly from Robinhood). Then separately, you'll need to enter each K-1 you received. TurboTax has a specific section for K-1 entries. The software is designed to handle this properly without double-counting.

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Camila Jordan

The K-1 income and the capital loss from selling the investment are treated as separate tax events, so they don't directly cancel each other out. The K-1 income is reported on various schedules depending on the type of income, while the capital loss from the sale goes on Schedule D. They affect your tax situation differently. As for timing, you should wait for all your K-1s before filing. K-1s often arrive late (sometimes even after April 15), but if that happens, you can file for an extension to give yourself more time. Filing an amendment is possible but more complicated than waiting for all your documents.

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Madeline Blaze

I ran into this exact problem last year! The advice I got from a friend of mine with a small business was to try https://taxr.ai to help sort through all this mess. I had K-1s from two different investments plus 1099-B forms from three different brokerages and was totally lost trying to figure out what went where. The tool basically analyzed all my investment forms and explained exactly how to handle each one in TurboTax - it was super clear about how K-1s report your share of ongoing business income while 1099-Bs show the actual buy/sell transactions. It even pointed out a few deductions on my K-1 that I would have completely missed.

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Madeline Blaze

It doesn't connect directly to TurboTax, but it gives you step-by-step instructions specific to your forms. It shows you exactly where each number needs to go in TurboTax with screenshots and everything. For international investments, it actually specializes in identifying foreign income sections on K-1s and explains how to handle the foreign tax credits properly. That was a lifesaver for me because I had some Canadian dividend income that I had no idea how to report correctly before.

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Emma Swift

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. I decided to give it a try with my complicated K-1 situation including those international investments I mentioned. I was genuinely surprised at how helpful it was! The system identified exactly which boxes on my K-1s contained foreign income and walked me through reporting them correctly on Form 1116. The best part was that it explained why I needed both the 1099-B information AND the K-1 information - turns out they're tracking completely different aspects of the investment. The 1099-B shows when I bought/sold, but the K-1 shows my share of what the business actually did while I owned it. I've been doing this wrong for years! No wonder I got that letter from the IRS last year.

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Isabella Tucker

If you're struggling with getting your K-1s on time, you might want to check out https://claimyr.com for getting through to the IRS. I had a nightmare situation last year where two of my K-1s arrived super late (mid-May!) and I had already filed using just my 1099-B info. Ended up with a CP2000 notice and couldn't get through to the IRS for weeks. Someone recommended Claimyr and it got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the 3+ hours I spent on hold before giving up. The agent helped me understand exactly what I needed to do to file an amended return with the late K-1 information. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I wish I'd known about this service years ago when I first started getting partnership income - would have saved me so much stress!

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Isabella Tucker

It doesn't jump the queue exactly - what it does is automate the waiting process for you. The service calls the IRS and navigates through all the prompts, then waits on hold in your place. When they actually have an agent on the line, you get a call back so you can jump in and talk to them directly. You don't waste hours of your day listening to hold music. It's not someone calling on your behalf - you're the one who talks to the IRS agent. The service just handles the painful waiting part. I was skeptical too until I tried it and got through to an actual agent who helped me sort out my K-1 problem.

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LordCommander

Well I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment I decided to try it because I've been trying to reach the IRS for weeks about my K-1/1099-B situation. I'm honestly shocked that it worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 35 minutes and was connected to an IRS agent who actually knew what they were talking about. The agent confirmed what others have said here - K-1s and 1099-Bs show different aspects of the investment and both need to be reported. She also told me that missing K-1 income is one of the most common audit triggers because the IRS gets copies of those forms directly from the partnerships. Really glad I called before filing incorrectly!

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Lucy Lam

I went through this last year and discovered that TurboTax actually has a pretty good system for handling both K-1s and 1099-Bs. When you get to the income section, there's a specific part for "Business or Farm Income (Schedule K-1)" where you can enter all the K-1 information. Then separately you'll enter the 1099-B information in the investment income section. The key thing I learned is that if you have investments that issue K-1s, you almost always need to file for an extension because they rarely arrive before the April deadline. I get K-1s from two different REITs and they consistently come in late April or early May.

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Lucy Lam

Filing for an extension doesn't cost anything extra with the IRS - it's free to get the automatic 6-month extension using Form 4868. TurboTax can help you file this form. Important note though: the extension gives you more time to FILE your return, but not more time to PAY what you owe. You still need to estimate what you'll owe and pay it by the April deadline to avoid penalties. TurboTax can help you make this estimate based on your previous year's income plus any 1099-B information you already have, even if you're still waiting on K-1s.

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Zoe Wang

Something nobody has mentioned yet - if your K-1 is from an MLP (Master Limited Partnership), there are special considerations for reporting on TurboTax. MLPs typically have special deductions like depletion allowances that can be tricky to enter. I find it's actually easier to use the desktop version of TurboTax rather than the online version for K-1s from MLPs since it handles the more complex K-1 entries better. If your K-1 has entries in boxes 16-20, you might want to consider this option.

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Liam O'Donnell

You can usually tell if it's an MLP by looking at the top of the K-1 form itself - it will specifically say "Master Limited Partnership" or have "MLP" somewhere in the partnership name or entity type section. MLPs are also publicly traded partnerships, so if you bought shares on an exchange like you would with regular stocks, but you're getting a K-1 instead of a 1099-DIV, it's likely an MLP. Another clue is that MLPs are commonly in the energy sector (oil, gas pipelines, etc.) though not exclusively. The K-1 from an MLP will typically have entries in the depletion sections that regular partnership K-1s won't have.

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