Ticketmaster 1099-K shows incorrect gross amount - thousands over actual sales

This is unfortunately becoming a common issue with ticket reselling platforms and their 1099-Ks. The discrepancy could be happening for a few reasons: 1) Ticketmaster might be including the full transaction amount before their fees were taken out 2) They could be counting tickets that were purchased but later refunded 3) Sometimes these platforms include the original purchase price plus service fees in box 1a Here's what I recommend: Continue documenting everything. Create a spreadsheet of all your actual sales with dates, amounts, and any fees. If Ticketmaster isn't responding, you can still file your taxes accurately by reporting the correct amount of income on your Schedule C, not the inflated 1099-K amount. The IRS actually expects this in many cases. On your Schedule C, report your actual gross receipts. Then on your tax return, include a statement explaining the discrepancy between your reported income and the 1099-K amount. Keep all your transaction records in case of questions later.

After dealing with a similar issue last year (with StubHub not Ticketmaster), I found an amazing service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me sort through all my 1099 discrepancies. They have a specific feature that analyzes your transaction history against the reported 1099 amounts and creates documentation to explain any differences to the IRS. I was pulling my hair out trying to manually reconcile thousands in phantom income on my 1099-K until I used their service. They generated a detailed reconciliation report that I could include with my tax return, showing exactly why the 1099-K was incorrect and what my actual taxable income should be.

Update: I just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after seeing it recommended here. I was dealing with a SeatGeek 1099-K that was showing almost $4,000 more than my actual sales. I uploaded my documents to https://taxr.ai and their system immediately identified that SeatGeek was including both the initial purchase price AND the resale amount in some cases, essentially double-counting certain transactions. They generated a really detailed report showing exactly which transactions were being counted incorrectly. I'm so relieved now because I have proper documentation to submit with my taxes. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with incorrect 1099-K amounts from any ticket platform.

After two months of getting nowhere with Ticketmaster's customer service about my incorrect 1099-K, I finally got through to someone at the IRS who was actually helpful! I used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get through to an actual human at the IRS without waiting on hold for hours. They have this system that calls the IRS for you and then connects you once they reach a human agent. Check out how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that platforms like Ticketmaster often report gross transaction amounts on 1099-Ks that don't reflect actual taxable income. She told me exactly how to handle the discrepancy on my return and what documentation to keep in case of questions.

I want to apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. I actually tried it after posting my comment (figured I had nothing to lose since I needed to talk to the IRS anyway about my own Ticketmaster 1099-K issue). I got connected to an IRS agent in about an hour without having to actually sit on hold myself. The agent walked me through exactly how to document the discrepancy between my actual income and what Ticketmaster reported. She explained that this happens frequently with ticket reselling platforms and gave me specific instructions for how to avoid triggering an audit. I'm impressed and relieved. Already filed my taxes with the correct documentation thanks to that conversation.

If Ticketmaster still hasn't responded, try reaching out to them on Twitter/X publicly. Sometimes the social media teams are more responsive than customer service when it comes to tax issues. I had a similar problem with another platform (not Ticketmaster) and tweeting at them got me a response within a day when emails went ignored for weeks.

One thing to check - does the higher amount on the 1099-K include the tickets you purchased for yourself but didn't resell? Ticketmaster sometimes includes ALL purchases in Box 1a, not just resales. I had this issue and realized about $2800 of the discrepancy was tickets I bought for personal use.

I'm dealing with a similar issue with my Ticketmaster 1099-K! Mine is off by about $2,200 and I've been trying to figure out where the discrepancy comes from. One thing that helped me was going through my Ticketmaster account settings and downloading the detailed transaction history (not just the summary). When I compared line by line, I found that some transactions were being counted twice - once when I originally bought tickets and again when I listed them for resale, even if they never sold. Also check if any refunded transactions are still being included in the gross amount. I had three events that got cancelled last year where I received full refunds, but those original purchase amounts were still showing up in my 1099-K total. It's frustrating that we have to do their accounting for them, but at least if you can identify the specific errors, you'll have solid documentation to include with your tax return. Keep pushing them for a corrected form though - you shouldn't have to explain away their mistakes to the IRS.

This is such a widespread issue with Ticketmaster's 1099-K reporting! I've been dealing with tax prep for clients who resell tickets, and I see this problem constantly. A few additional things to check that might explain the discrepancy: 1) Service fees and taxes - Ticketmaster might be including their service fees and taxes in the gross amount, even though those weren't part of your actual sales proceeds. 2) Payment processing timing - If you had any sales in late December 2024 where the payment didn't process until early January 2025, those might be missing from your personal records but included on the 1099-K. 3) Promotional credits or vouchers - Sometimes platforms include the face value of tickets purchased with credits/vouchers rather than the actual cash amount you received. My advice: Don't wait for Ticketmaster to fix this. Document everything thoroughly and file with your correct numbers. The IRS understands these platforms have reporting issues. Include a reconciliation statement with your return showing your actual gross receipts versus the 1099-K amount, with line-by-line explanations for the differences you've identified. The key is having clean records that support your reported income. Better to file accurately than to report inflated income just because of a faulty 1099-K.