Artículo Prizes and awards.. Prizes and awards.

id="en_US_2025_publink1000172128"> Prizes and awards. If you win a prize in a lucky number drawing, television or radio quiz program, beauty contest, or other event, you must include it in your income. For example, if you win a $50 prize in a photography contest, you must report this income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8i. If you refuse to accept a prize, don’t include its value in your income. Prizes and awards in goods or services must be included in your income at their fair market value. Employee awards or bonuses. Cash awards or bonuses given to you by your employer for good work or suggestions must generally be included in your income as wages. However, certain noncash employee achievement awards can be excluded from income. See Bonuses and awards in chapter 5. Pulitzer, Nobel, and similar prizes. If you were awarded a prize in recognition of accomplishments in religious, charitable, scientific, artistic, educational, literary, or civic fields, you must generally include the value of the prize in your income. However, you don’t include this prize in your income if you meet all of the following requirements. You were selected without any action on your part to enter the contest or proceeding. You aren’t required to perform substantial future services as a condition to receiving the prize or award. The prize or award is transferred by the payer directly to a governmental unit or tax-exempt charitable organization as designated by you. See Pub. 525 for more information about the conditions that apply to the transfer. Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF). Effective December 22, 2017, Code section 1400Z-2 provides a temporary deferral on inclusion in gross income for capital gains invested in QOFs, and permanent exclusion of capital gains from the sale or exchange of an investment in the QOF if the investment is held for at least 10 years. See the Instructions for Form 8949 on how to report your election to defer eligible gains invested in a QOF. See the instructions for Form 8997, Initial and Annual Statement of Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) Investments, for reporting information. For additional information, see Opportunity Zones Frequently Asked Questions at IRS.gov/Newsroom/Opportunity-Zones-Frequently-Asked-Questions . Qualified tuition programs (QTPs). A QTP (also known as a 529 program) is a program set up to allow you to either prepay or contribute to an account established for paying a student's qualified higher education expenses at an eligible educational institution. A program can be established and maintained by a state, an agency or instrumentality of a state, or an eligible educational institution. The part of a distribution representing the amount paid or contributed to a QTP isn’t included in income. This is a return of the investment in the program. In most cases, the beneficiary doesn’t include in income any earnings distributed from a QTP if the total distribution is less than or equal to adjusted qualified higher education expenses. See Pub. 970 for more information. Railroad retirement annuities. The following types of payments are treated as pension or annuity income and are taxable under the rules explained in Pub. 575, Pension and Annuity Income. Tier 1 railroad retirement benefits that are more than the social security equivalent benefit. Tier 2 benefits. Vested dual benefits. Rewards. If you receive a reward for providing information, include it in your income. Sale of home. You may be able to exclude from income all or part of any gain from the sale or exchange of your main home. See Pub. 523. Sale of personal items. If you sold an item you owned for personal use, such as a car, refrigerator, furniture, stereo, jewelry, or silverware, your gain is taxable as a capital gain. Report it as explained in the Instructions for Schedule D (Form 1040). You can’t deduct a loss. However, if you sold an item you held for investment, such as gold or silver bullion, coins, or gems, any gain is taxable as a capital gain and any loss is deductible as a capital loss. Example. You sold a painting on an online auction website for $100. You bought the painting for $20 at a garage sale years ago. Report your gain as a capital gain as explained in the Instructions for Schedule D (Form 1040). Scholarships and fellowships. A candidate for a degree can exclude amounts received as a qualified scholarship or fellowship. A qualified scholarship or fellowship is any amount you receive that’s for: Tuition and fees to enroll at or attend an educational institution; or Fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses at the educational institution. Amounts used for room and board don’t qualify for the exclusion. See Pub. 970 for more information on qualified scholarships and fellowship grants. Payment for services. In most cases, you must include in income the part of any scholarship or fellowship that represents payment for past, present, or future teaching, research, or other services. This applies even if all candidates for a degree must perform the services to receive the degree. For information about the rules that apply to a tax-free qualified tuition reduction provided to employees and their families by an educational institution, see Pub. 970. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) payments. Allowances paid by the VA aren’t included in your income. These allowances aren’t considered scholarship or fellowship grants. Prizes. Scholarship prizes won in a contest aren’t scholarships or fellowships if you don’t have to use the prizes for educational purposes. You must include these amounts in your income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8i, whether or not you use the amounts for educational purposes. Sharing/gig economy. A sharing economy is one in which assets are shared between individuals for a fee, usually through the Internet. For example, you rent out your car when you don’t need it, or you share your wi-fi account for a fee. A gig economy is one in which a short-term contract or freelance work is the norm, as opposed to a permanent job. For example, you drive for a ride-sharing service, or work as a fitness trainer, babysitter, or tutor. Generally, if you have income from sharing economy transactions, or you did gig work, you must include all income received whether you received a Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions, or not. See the Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) and the Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040). State tax payments. Do not include payments on your tax return made by states under legislatively provided social benefit programs for the promotion of the general welfare. To qualify for the general welfare exclusion, state payments must be paid from a governmental fund, be for the promotion of general welfare (that is, based on the need of the individual or family receiving such payments), and not represent compensation for services. Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year. Tips. You may be eligible to take a deduction for qualified tips paid to you in 2025. You can’t deduct more than $25,000 of those tips. Your deduction will be limited if your modified adjusted gross income is more than $150,000 ($300,000 if married filing jointly). To be eligible, you and/or your spouse who received the tips must have a valid SSN. If you are married, you must file a joint return. Transporting school children. Don’t include in your income a school board mileage allowance for taking children to and from school if you aren’t in the business of taking children to school. You can’t deduct expenses for providing this transportation. Union benefits and dues. Amounts deducted from your pay for union dues, assessments, contributions, or other payments to a union can’t be excluded from your income. Strike and lockout benefits. Benefits paid to you by a union as strike or lockout benefits, including both cash and the fair market value of other property, are usually included in your income as compensation. You can exclude these benefits from your income only when the facts clearly show that the union intended them as gifts to you. Utility rebates. If you’re a customer of an electric utility company and you participate in the utility's energy conservation program, you may receive on your monthly electric bill either: A reduction in the purchase price of electricity furnished to you (rate reduction), or A nonrefundable credit against the purchase price of the electricity. The amount of the rate reduction or nonrefundable credit isn’t included in your income. 9. Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) What’s New Modified adjusted gross income (AGI) limit for traditional IRA contributions. For 2025, if you are covered by a retirement plan at work, your deduction for contributions to a traditional IRA is reduced (phased out) if your modified AGI is: More than $126,000 but less than $146,000 for a married couple filing a joint return or a qualifying surviving spouse, More than $79,000 but less than $89,000 for a single individual or head of household, or Less than $10,000 for a married individual filing a separate return. If you either live with your spouse or file a joint return, and your spouse is covered by a retirement plan at work but you aren’t, your deduction is phased out if your modified AGI is more than $236,000 but less than $246,000. If your modified AGI is $246,000 or more, you can’t take a deduction for contributions to a traditional IRA. See How Much Can You Deduct , later. Modified AGI limit for Roth IRA contributions. For 2025, your Roth IRA contribution limit is reduced (phased out) in the following situations. Your filing status is married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse and your modified AGI is at least $236,000. You can’t make a Roth IRA contribution if your modified AGI is $246,000 or more. Your filing status