@BetterCheddar wrote:
Not a business and not really a hobby either; I had a lot of extra expenses at the beginning of the year - I had a new HVAC system to pay off and a cat getting expensive cancer treatments - and quite literally needed the cash.
Well, tax-wise, those are the two basic ways of handling the income, you were a business or this was occasional/not for profit/hobby activity. You will have to choose one or the other when it is time to report the income. You will also want a convincing explanation for why you chose that method, that you use in case you are audited. Here is some IRS guidance.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/heres-how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business-for-tax...
