Comments on: Tax Tips | Is my blog a Business or Hobby?

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 01:30:48 +0000

I know you posted this over a year ago, but my big question is do I even need to file taxes? I post daily about my life and do review products that companies send to me. I am just doing this for fun, so how do I know if I need to file taxes. I do keep track of what companies send me because of deadlines and so forth. Some are send directly from the companies and others I purchase online with promo codes given to me by the companies. Any help or advice would be welcomed.

Thank you

By: Mrs. Fancee

Mrs. Fancee — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 20:40:35 +0000

In reply to Anna D Kart.

Anna, you’ve asked some great questions that could take many posts to fully answer! But I will try give an ‘in-a-nutshell’ answer. You should be keeping track of any money that you make from your blog and any money you spend on your blog. Those are your income and expenses and show you if you have a net income or loss. If you report your blog as a hobby your total income is always taxable, your expenses are partially deductible, but your net losses are never deductible. Whereas if you report as a business, your expenses are fully deductible and your net losses can lower taxes on your other income (like wages for example). I hope that some helps, it’s tough since this is just the tip of the iceberg!

By: Anna D Kart

Anna D Kart — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 17:30:19 +0000

I would list my blog as a business if the gains were bigger than losses, otherwise it’s just too much headache! Also, how do you compute that? The losses vs. gains are what exactly?

By: Mrs. Fancee

Mrs. Fancee — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 20:36:02 +0000

In reply to Tiara.

You aren’t the only one! It confuses me and it’s my job 😉

By: Mrs. Fancee

Mrs. Fancee — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 20:35:32 +0000

In reply to Louise Rogers.

Glad to help, Louise! I’m looking forward to delving further into these topics in the future 🙂

By: Mrs. Fancee

Mrs. Fancee — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 20:32:33 +0000

In reply to carrie loves (@carrieloves).

Carrie, I’m glad you enjoyed the article! You are a huge inspiration to me, and I hope some day to make a livable income off my blog/business like you. I think I might write more on this topic in the future, as I know how confusing all the rules are! 🙂

By: Tiara

Tiara — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 16:25:00 +0000

This is really helpful. The tax stuff confuses me life a lot and this was very clear and easy to understand!! I hope you do more posts like this soon. Thank you!

By: Louise Rogers

Louise Rogers — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 16:02:30 +0000

Really helpful thank you – I hadn’t realised that there would be a distinction between a hobbyist or a professional so very useful!

By: carrie loves (@carrieloves)

carrie loves (@carrieloves) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 14:10:12 +0000

Very helpful information! For the past two years we’ve filed as a business for my blog and design site since it was my sole income. But, before that it was just a hobby… it would be great to know more about the limits for what you can claim as a hobby.

By: Mrs. Fancee

Mrs. Fancee — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 15:54:39 +0000

In reply to Jackie Dixon.

Thanks Jackie, so glad you found it helpful 🙂 I have few ideas up my sleeve for more tax related posts for bloggers!