Income and Investments

I Received a K-1. What Is It?

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Published Mar 7, 2012 - [Updated Jul 10, 2019]
2 min read

It’s mid-March. Nearly two months ago, you received your W-2. A short while later, the last of your 1099-INTs from your bank arrived. Just when you thought you had all of your tax documents, you surprisingly received a corrected 1099-DIV. If you weren’t such a procrastinator, you would have filed your tax return a few weeks ago. Good thing you hadn’t!

But the strangest thing happened today – you opened the mail and there, with your name on it, is a tax form you’ve never seen: Form K-1. You weren’t expecting it, you never received one before, and you just got it, only a month before the tax deadline.

You: What gives?

A K-1 is a tax form distributed by many partnerships, S-Corps, estates, and trusts. If you are a general or limited partner of a partnership, a shareholder in an S-Corp, or the beneficiary of an estate or trust, you’re likely to receive a K-1.

You: But what is it?

A K-1 is just like a W-2 or other tax form. You use the information provided on the form to accurately complete your tax return. Except as illustrated in the opening scenario, K-1s are often distributed much later in the year than other tax forms.

You: Why do they arrive so late?

In order for the entity to send you the K-1, it first needs to complete its own tax return.

You: Huh?

For example, a partnership must prepare its taxes- its partnership tax return – before it sends out the K-1s to the partners. The due date for most partnership tax returns is March 15. Consequently, K-1s are often received much later than other tax forms. Furthermore, like individuals, partnerships can request extensions of time to file, often until September 15.

You: So I might not receive a K-1 until after April 17, the deadline for my tax return?

Indeed, it’s not only possible, it happens routinely.

You: So how do I plan for that?

Most people who receive K-1s know they will receive them.

You: How do they know?

It’s rare to own a partnership or be a trust fund kid and not know it.

You: I suppose you’re right. So if get one of these K-1s, what would I do next?

Once you’re ready to start your tax return, collect all your tax forms, including any K-1s. If you’re using tax software, the program will tell you what you need to do with each form. TurboTax easily guides you through entering items reported on your K-1 and puts the information on your proper tax forms.

So, don’t lose too much sleep; the K-1 is, ultimately, just another form used to complete your taxes and report your income to the IRS.

147 responses to “I Received a K-1. What Is It?”

Edwin Shingleton says:

April 2, 2012 at 1:34 pm

I am using Turbo Tax Deluxe. I received a K1 that shows data in box 1 and box 3 how do I handle that?

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Wes Zmolek says:

April 2, 2012 at 12:21 pm

I have Turbo Tax Home & Business, and 3 K-1 statements from oil and gas investments. I found where to enter K-1 info on Turbo Tax, but according to CPAs I have talked to, this information should feed into a Schedule E where I can also claim deductions such as intangible drilling costs, depletion, and depreciation. But I can’t find where on TurboTax to enter the deductions. Can you help with that?

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Jo Ann M. says:

April 2, 2012 at 9:43 am

I have passive and general category income on my K-1 forms. Turbo tax keeps wanting me to enter information on a K-1 worksheet to put that information on an IRS Form 1116. It does not work. What do I do?

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Sally Jacobson says:

April 1, 2012 at 11:12 pm

I received a 1065-B with an amount in box 2 (taxable income from passive activities); since this is an oil and gas partnership, it doesn’t make sense that this corresponds to the regular 1065 box 2 (rental) entry. Should I put it in box 1 on the Turbo Tax entry field? It also shows M5 (distributions) in the box 9 statement.

A second 1065-B from a similar oil and gas partnership shows an amount in box 1 (taxable income from passive activities), a box 9 code of M5 for distributions, and a footnote that states: ‘Box 1 of your form is the qualified production activities income for purposes of computing the IRC section 199 deduction’. Would this equate to regular 1065 box 13 code T?

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Andrew Lasner says:

April 1, 2012 at 6:10 pm

I have k-1’s and 1099 income. Can I use turbo deluxe.

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- TurboTaxLisa says:
  
  April 1, 2012 at 8:20 pm
  
  Hi Andrew,
  Yes, TurboTax Deluxe or Premier are both appropriate for you. Please see this link for product comparisons http://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/compare.jsp
  Thank you,
  Lisa Greene-Lewis
  
  Reply
Phil Morgan says:

April 1, 2012 at 3:01 pm

I inadvertently entered too many categories for Box 13. I’m unable to remove these using the delete button. Any ideas how to remove so the program doesn’t keep asking for #’s input into these irrelevant categories?

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Adam T says:

April 1, 2012 at 12:41 pm

I recieved a K-1 (form 1065) and Part III (#1-#20) is blank. Do I need to input anything into my return?

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LL Smith says:

April 1, 2012 at 9:12 am

I purchased a block of partnership shares called Units in 2010 and sold them in 2011. They are for a very large group partnership publicly traded through my brokerage. I bought 450 “units” and sold 456 “units” – with 6 units coming from auto re-investment. They notified me preliminary tax info is available on their web site, which I downloaded. They also share they will not provide a K-1 until sometime in June. On the preliminary info it says my share of ordinary income is $127, Qualified dividend income is $14, long term capital gain (loss) is $23. The record of my purchase and sale is also listed. I cannot determine how to enter anything concerning this investment into turbo tax – none of the data I have so far seems to match the information requested by turbo-tax related to a schedule K-1. I am trying to file before April 15th to recover refund, but it almost looks like I need to file an extension until I get a K-1. Can I use turbo-tax to process the return prior to April 15, and if so, where in turbo tax do I enter the information I have?

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Tom P. says:

March 31, 2012 at 3:31 pm

TurboTax says because I entered code F and either code D or code E in box 16 for a K-1 form that I must use separate K-1 worksheets to report more than one type of foreign gross income sourced at the entry level. How do I do that in TurboTax and won’t most entries on multiple K-1 for the same partnership use the same information? Thank you.

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Bob says:

March 31, 2012 at 8:51 am

My father-in-law pasted and has a trust. Is the money taxed before distribution or for each member recieving a distribution? What are the limits of taxation on inheritance?

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