CAN A HOBBY BE A BUSINESS?

Are you a part-time photographer? You may have arrived at you venture into the stock photography field from originally being a hobbyist--rather than a former commercial photographer. You may have stock photography as a sideline business and have your full-time employment in a business unrelated to photography. This presents a combination that the IRS likes to be mindful of, but it's also a combination that can be joined easily and to your benefit, with the aid of a professional tax person and a few words of advice from this column.

Coming into the stock photography arena as a former hobbyist, that is, someone with great talent but with no history of attempting to sell your photos, you are faced with good news and bad news.

First the good news. You now have the opportunity to take advantage of many tax deductions that formerly were not available to you. This aspect alone could save you many dollars that ordinarily would have gone to the Treasury Department,and that you now will be able to use to build your business.

The bad news is that you will become more interesting to the IRS. The guidelines of the IRS encourage you as a part-time photographer to take full advantage of the Tax Laws, but at the same time require you to watch closely that you don;t wander down wrong directions as to precisely how various tax matters apply to you.

In the next few months, I will cover the many aspects of "Hobby vs. Business" in this column.

Ed note: Be sure to read, "Is Your Photography A Hobby Or A Business?" in the August 1997 issue of PhotoStockNotes, or on the Web at http://www.photosource.com/tax/tax11.html