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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

This is a really helpful thread! I'm in a similar boat with my first year of K-1 investments. One thing I wanted to add that helped me understand the difference - think of it this way: the K-1 reports what happened "inside" the company while you owned it (their income, expenses, etc. that flow through to you as a partner), while the 1099-B reports what happened when you sold your ownership stake. So even if you sold at a loss on the 1099-B, you might still owe taxes on the K-1 income that was generated while you held the investment. They're completely separate tax events that both need to be reported. I'm still waiting on two of my K-1s myself, so looks like I'll be filing for that extension. Thanks everyone for the advice about the timing - I had no idea K-1s came so late compared to other tax forms!