Getting Your Financial Ducks In A Row Rotating Header Image

If your hobby makes money, read this

hobbyLots of us have a hobby – whether it’s collecting stamps, raising honeybees, restoring old Jeeps, or mounting a wild-cat – and sometimes these hobbies can produce income. If you have a hobby that makes money, you may need to claim this money as income, net of your expenses, on your tax return.

Recently the IRS published their Summertime Tax Tip with Five Tax Tips about Hobbies that Earn Income, providing useful information about income-producing hobbies. The text of the Tip is below:

Five Tax Tips about Hobbies that Earn Income

Millions of people enjoy hobbies. Hobbies can also be a source of income. Some of these types of hobbies include stamp or coin collecting, craft making and horse breeding. You must report any income you get from a hobby on your tax return. How you report the income from hobbies is different from how you report income from a business. There are special rules and limits for deductions you can claim for a hobby. Here are five basic tax tips you should know if you get income from your hobby:

  1. Business versus Hobby. There are nine factors (below) to consider to determine if you are conducting business or participating in a hobby. Make sure to base your decision on all the facts and circumstances of your situation. Refer to Publication 535, Business Expenses, to learn more. You can also visit IRS.gov and type “not-for-profit” in the search box.  You generally must consider these nine factors to establish that an activity is a business engaged in making a profit:
    • Whether you carry on the activity in a businesslike manner.
    • Whether the time and effort you put into the activity indicate you intend to make it profitable.
    • Whether you depend on income from the activity for your livelihood.
    • Whether your losses are due to circumstances beyond your control (or are normal in the startup phase of your type of business).
    • Whether you change your methods of operation in an attempt to improve profitability.
    • Whether you or your advisors have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business.
    • Whether you were successful in making a profit in similar activities in the past.
    • Whether the activity makes a profit in some years and how much profit it makes.
    • Whether you can expect to make a future profit from the appreciation of the assets used in the activity.
  2. Allowable Hobby Deductions. You may be able to deduct ordinary and necessary hobby expenses. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted for the activity. A necessary expense is one that is helpful or appropriate. See Publication 535 for more on these rules.
  3. Limits on Expenses. As a general rule, you can only deduct your hobby expenses up to the amount of your hobby income. If your expenses are more than your income, you have a loss from the activity. You can’t deduct that loss from your other income.
  4. How to Deduct Expenses. You must itemize deductions on your tax return in order to deduct hobby expenses. Your costs may fall into three types of expenses. Special rules apply to each type. See Publication 535 for how you should report them on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions.
  5. Use IRS Free File. Hobby rules can be complex. IRS Free File can make filing your tax return easier. IRS Free File is available until Oct. 17. If you make $62,000 or less, you can use brand-name tax software. If you earn more, you can use Free File Fillable Forms, an electronic version of IRS paper forms. You can only access Free File through IRS.gov.

IRS Tax Tips provide valuable information throughout the year. IRS.gov offers tax help and info on various topics including common tax scams, taxpayer rights and more.

Additional IRS Resources:

Get involved!