Robinhood Prediction Market Tax Guide

Robinhood Event Contracts & Taxes

Robinhood offers binary event contracts on elections, economics, and other events alongside traditional stock and crypto trading. These prediction market trades appear in your Robinhood account but have different tax implications than equities.

Your Robinhood 1099 may or may not break out event contract activity separately. Either way, you're responsible for reporting prediction market gains and losses correctly. The IRS hasn't issued specific guidance for event contracts, so multiple filing approaches are defensible.

Our calculator imports your Robinhood event contract trades via CSV export and calculates all 4 possible tax treatments so you can choose the approach that works best for your situation.

Robinhood event contracts as capital assets. Each contract bought and settled/sold is a taxable disposition. Most trades are short-term.

Form: Form 8949 + Schedule D

Net prediction market P&L reported as other income on Schedule 1. Simple and defensible approach.

Form: Schedule 1

Robinhood event contracts may qualify if traded on a CFTC-regulated exchange. Check whether Robinhood uses a regulated DCM for its contracts.

Form: Form 6781

Gross winnings reported, losses deductible only if itemizing. OBBBA caps losses at 90% starting 2026.

Form: Schedule 1 + Schedule A

Export from Robinhood

Download your trade history CSV from Robinhood's account settings. Our parser auto-detects the Robinhood format.

Review your P&L

See profit and loss for every event contract. Win rate, average return, and per-position breakdown.

Compare tax methods

All 4 IRS treatments calculated with exact dollar amounts based on your Robinhood activity.

Download forms

Get IRS-ready PDFs pre-filled with your Robinhood prediction market data.

Robinhood 1099 and Event Contracts

Robinhood issues consolidated 1099 forms that include your stock, options, crypto, and event contract activity. However, event contract trades may be lumped together with other activity, making it difficult to isolate prediction market gains and losses.

Your Robinhood 1099-B reports gross proceeds but may not correctly categorize event contracts for tax purposes. Since the IRS hasn't issued specific guidance on prediction market taxation, Robinhood's default categorization may not reflect the optimal tax treatment for your situation.

Our calculator separates your event contract trades from the rest of your Robinhood activity, calculates cost basis using FIFO, and generates standalone IRS forms specifically for your prediction market positions.

Robinhood vs Kalshi vs Polymarket: Tax Differences

Robinhood event contracts sit in a unique position. Unlike Polymarket (crypto-native, no 1099), Robinhood provides tax documents. Unlike Kalshi (CFTC-regulated DCM), Robinhood's regulatory structure for event contracts is less clear-cut for Section 1256 purposes.

The key advantage of Robinhood is convenience — event contracts live alongside your stocks and options in one brokerage account. The downside is that Robinhood's tax reporting may not distinguish event contracts from equities, potentially creating confusion on your return.

If you trade on multiple platforms, our calculator consolidates everything into a single report. You can import Robinhood via CSV alongside Kalshi API data and Polymarket on-chain data for a complete cross-platform P&L.

Are Robinhood event contracts taxed differently than stocks?

Yes. While both appear in your Robinhood account, event contracts are binary options — not equity securities. The IRS may treat them as capital assets, ordinary income, gambling income, or even Section 1256 contracts. The correct treatment is uncertain, which is why we calculate all four methods.

Does Robinhood send a 1099 for prediction market trades?

Yes. Robinhood includes event contract activity in your consolidated 1099-B. However, the form may not separately categorize event contracts, and Robinhood's default cost basis reporting may not reflect the optimal tax treatment.

Can Robinhood event contracts use Section 1256 treatment?

Possibly. If Robinhood routes event contracts through a CFTC-regulated designated contract market (DCM), Section 1256 may apply. Check whether your specific contracts were traded on a regulated exchange. The argument is stronger for Kalshi but may apply to Robinhood in some cases.

How do I export my Robinhood prediction market trades?

Go to your Robinhood account settings, navigate to tax documents or account statements, and download your trade history as a CSV file. Our parser auto-detects the Robinhood format and extracts event contract trades.

Can I deduct Robinhood prediction market losses?

Yes, but the deduction depends on your tax treatment. Under capital gains, losses offset gains with up to $3,000 in excess losses deductible against other income. Under gambling treatment, losses are only deductible if you itemize and are limited to your winnings (90% cap under OBBBA starting 2026).

What if I have both stock and event contract trades on Robinhood?

Our calculator only processes event contract / prediction market trades. Your stock, options, and crypto trades should be handled separately through Robinhood's standard 1099 reporting or a dedicated stock tax tool.

Do I need to file separately for Robinhood prediction markets?

Not necessarily. Your prediction market gains and losses are reported on the same tax return as your other income. However, depending on the treatment you choose, they may go on different forms (Schedule D, Schedule 1, Form 6781) than your stock trades.

What if my Robinhood 1099 doesn't match my actual P&L?

This is common. Robinhood's 1099 reports gross proceeds and may use different cost basis assumptions. Our calculator computes your actual gain or loss using FIFO cost basis from your complete trade history. If there's a discrepancy, you can attach a reconciliation statement to your return.