The Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008 provides tax relief to persons affected by the severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding occurring in the Midwestern disaster areas. For details, see Publication 4492-B, Information for Affected Taxpayers in the Midwestern Disaster Areas.

You must include on your return all income you receive in the form of money, property, and services unless the tax law states that you do not include them. Some items, however, are only partly excluded from income. This chapter discusses many kinds of income and explains whether they are taxable or nontaxable.

• Income that is taxable must be reported on your tax return and is subject to tax.
• Income that is nontaxable may have to be shown on your tax return but is not taxable.

This chapter begins with discussions of the following income items.

• Bartering.
• Canceled debts.
• Host or hostess.
• Life insurance proceeds.
• Partnership income.
• S Corporation income.
• Recoveries (including state income tax refunds).
• Rents from personal property.
• Repayments.
• Royalties.
• Unemployment benefits.
• Welfare and other public assistance benefits.

These discussions are followed by brief discussions of other income items arranged in alphabetical order.

Bartering is an exchange of property or services. You must include in your income, at the time received, the fair market value of property or services you receive in bartering. If you exchange services with another person and you both have agreed ahead of time as to the value of the services, that value will be accepted as fair market value unless the value can be shown to be otherwise.

Generally, you report this income on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business, or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), Net Profit From Business . However, if the barter involves an exchange of something other than services, such as in Example 3 below, you may have to use another form or schedule instead.

You are a self-employed attorney who performs legal services for a client, a small corporation. The corporation gives you shares of its stock as payment for your services. You must include the fair market value of the shares in your income on Schedule C (Form 1040) or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) in the year you receive them.

You are self-employed and a member of a barter club. The club uses "credit units" as a means of exchange. It adds credit units to your account for goods or services you provide to members, which you can use to purchase goods or services offered by other members of the barter club. The club subtracts credit units from your account when you receive goods or services from other members. You must include in your income the value of the credit units that are added to your account, even though you may not actually receive goods or services from other members until a later tax year.

You own a small apartment building. In return for 6 months rent-free use of an apartment, an artist gives you a work of art she created. You must report as rental income on Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss, the fair market value of the artwork, and the artist must report as income on Schedule C (Form 1040) or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) the fair rental value of the apartment.

If you exchanged property or services through a barter exchange, Form 1099-B, Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions, or a similar statement from the barter exchange should be sent to you by February 17, 2009. It should show the value of cash, property, services, credits, or scrip you received from exchanges during 2008. The IRS also will receive a copy of Form 1099-B.