Tax info

[TXMike]

Beats me. I never got to that point. Until last tax year I have been handling as a charitable contribution as my expenses were also in excess of income.

[PADist1Ref]

So the question here is: is the game site a Temporary place of work or a second job?

[Jim D]

Originally Posted by PADist1Ref

So the question here is: is the game site a Temporary place of work or a second job?

I would say it's a second job. A temporary place of work would be where a site where my primary job would take me.

[Forksref]

Originally Posted by Jim D

I would say it's a second job. A temporary place of work would be where a site where my primary job would take me.

Seems to me to be temporary, since it is less than a year. My season lasts about 3 months.

Also, the last 2 summers I attended an officials' camp that was more than 300 miles away. With the mileage and gas and room and meals, it eats up a huge chunk of my revenue for the year.

[MadCityRef]

Originally Posted by Forksref

Seems to me to be temporary, since it is less than a year. My season lasts about 3 months.

Also, the last 2 summers I attended an officials' camp that was more than 300 miles away. With the mileage and gas and room and meals, it eats up a huge chunk of my revenue for the year.

Go with a Schedule C form and read the instructions for the list of deductions.
You can take some deductions you missed in the previous three years. Don't forget your Self Employment Tax!

[Robert Goodman]

[QUOTE=TXMike]

Originally Posted by insatty

I remember reading that you could only claim a loss for 3 years, after that they deem it not to be a business so you can no longer claim the loss

No, the 3 years in a row of losses is only a guideline, as is that of profits in 3 out of every 5 years. If you can show you had a reasonable expectation of a chance of profit, you can still get sched C deductions. It is understood that some businesses are more speculative than others. For instance, if you'd had declining losses for 3 years and thought you'd become profitable the next, so you invested a lot in equipment (under the limit for expensing, which is huge) but then got laid up and couldn't officiate that year, that's a legitimate loss.

Also, if they're the sort of business expenses that nobody would consider supporting a hobby, such as fees to a licensing agency, they're legit too. I've taken schedule C losses for many years on an invention, and maybe had a slight profit just one or two years, but IRS understands that things like patent maintenance fees and legal fees are not going into a hobby!

Robert