Hi John,
That first link doesn't appear to work for me. Getting a 404 on the IRS site for that link.
Am I correct in understanding that you're saying that the "benefit" for claiming it as a hobby would be that I don't have to pay the 15.3% self employment tax on the "profit". In my case, it would be me claiming the Amazon Vine thing as a hobby, and then I would pay the "income" as other income and pay regular tax on it but don't have to pay the additional 15.3% of that because it is not a business income?
My only concern now would be how I would prove to the IRS that it's a hobby? What documents would I need to prove it? From the link you showed are the questions I would need to consider if this was a hobby:
"Do you put in the necessary time and effort to turn a profit?"
What would that even mean? I'm getting items fore free which would be my profit I guess? But I don't know what the necessary time and effort for this would be. I'm writing the reviews for the item as I would normally write a review for Amazon on an item that I liked or disliked in particular.
"Have you made a profit in this activity in the past, or can you expect to make one in the future?"
This is my first time trying this out, and I'm still unclear about if getting an item is a profit since I'm not spending any money to get the item besides in taxes.
"Do you have the necessary knowledge to succeed in this field?
I'm writing reviews on these items, so I guess I would have knowledge of the item and it's applications enough, but I don't know what it would mean to "succeed in this field" for this particular case.
"Do you depend on income from this activity?"
I do not.
"Are your losses beyond your control?"
I don't think there's any losses, let alone any beyond my control, again due to the income being "items" with some market value. So I am not spending anything, and therefore cannot have any losses?
