Since 2024 I have paid $16,400 for publishing and marketing a book that have made $24 in royalties. Can I claim a credit for these loses?

[federico-b-cuadra]

I lost money making, legalizing, publishing and marketing a book. Can I claim a tax credit?

[ThomasM125 · Accepted solution]

I believe you are asking if you can deduct the costs you incurred to bring your book to market, which would generate a potential business loss deduction of over $16,000.

In order to deduct the expenses to generate a business loss, you would have to prove that you were in business. That would depend on a variety of factors, such as the time and effort you put into the project, the amount of money year earned from it, the prospect of future earnings and other things. You can read more about that in this Intuit article. If you determined that the activity was a business, then you could report the income as self-employment income and deduct the associated expenses. However, since the income is minimal, such treatment may attract attention from the IRS who may be inclined to argue it was a hobby and then deny the deductions.

If it is a hobby, then you need to report the income as such and you are not currently allowed to deduct the associated expenses.