Where to classify grocery expenses for food blog?

[Ovrea]

If I have a food blog, in which TurboTax category I classify the grocery expenses I sustained to prepare meals I prepare in connection with my food blog? I see "Supplies" or "miscellaneous expenses"; I also see "Inventory", but it explicitly says "Only enter the amounts paid for products held for sale" and I do not plan to sell meals, only to prepare meals and showcase them on the food blog.

[ToddL99]

Is your food blog a legitimate business or a hobby? The IRS lists nine factors which are used to distinguish between a hobby and a business; business expenses are deductible and hobby expenses are not.

Unless you are generating meaningful income from your food blog (or can clearly demonstrate an intent and ability to do so), food expenses (grocery or dining out) are not deductible expenses.

Costs incurred in both your personal life and your business life are rarely deductible as business expenses. Food, drink and clothing would come under this category. 

A common example of this would be "uniforms" - if you can wear the "uniform" as clothing outside of your workplace, you cannot claim a business deduction for the cost of that uniform. High-powered businesspersons must often spend a great deal of money on business attire, but they can wear the same clothing for non-business purposes - not deductible. Military people, however, are usually restricted on when and where they are allowed to wear their uniforms - deductible. 

(If having a food, wine and liquor blog was a way for taxpayers to deduct the cost of those items, there would be MANY more of those blogs than there are already).

[Ovrea]

Thank you for the extra input. For the sake of the question, please consider the food blog a legitimate business based on the IRS definition.

What I meant to ask with the question is more specific: grocery is needed in order to run what could be considered the core business of a food blogger. Each food blogger does different things and focuses on different areas. For example, consider the following as core business: I need to take pictures of dishes and showcase recipes, but I cannot do that if I don't prepare the dish. I can't prepare the dish if I don't have the ingredients to make it.

Let me give another example for a different industry which I think is analogous: think about a painter who needs paint to make paintings. He doesn't sell his paintings, but just showcases them in a gallery and asks customers to pay a ticket to enter the gallery. Based on the TurboTax definition he cannot classify the paint under "Inventory", because that category requires to "Only enter the amounts paid for products held for sale" and the painter does not sell his paintings.

In the same way, a food blogger might prepare recipes, for which he or she needs raw materials (ingredients), but the final output is an article online that people can read, article which the food blogger intends to monetize.

Based on the above, how would these "raw materials" or "ingredients" be classified using TurboTax categories? Would these expenses (ingredients/groceries for the food blogger or paint for the painter) fall under either "Supplies" or "miscellaneous expenses"?

Thank you!

[ToddL99]

Your analogy fails in some important ways - the painter manipulates supplies to produce a tangible product (painting) that incorporates those supplies, and then sells that product to customer. Art galleries exist to display those products for sale; museum galleries may make their money selling tickets, but every art gallery I have ever been in can only survive on sales of their art. Additionally, "paint, brushes and canvas" are not essential to daily life as  is food.

You are not buying food to prepare and sell it, you are buying food to cook and eat it. While the resulting dish may increase your knowledge and inform your opinion of a particular ingredient or recipe, you are not producing anything tangible that incorporates those elements - just an opinion.  

Should you actually monetize that "opinion", then there would be a basis for expensing the costs incurred to form that opinion. Until then, I would strongly suggest your food blog is going to be treated as a hobby; any hobby costs, however, can be expensed up to your hobby income.

To enter hobby income and expenses, follow the steps below:

• Sign in to your TurboTax account
• Click Federal Taxes tab
• Choose Wages and Income
• Scroll down to Less Common Income and click Start to to right of Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C
• Click Start to right of Hobby income and expenses

[Ovrea]

Thank you for all your observations (and the assumptions about what I am or am not doing), but you haven't actually replied the original question.

If you know the answer to the question, please help, otherwise I'll wait for someone who has expertise in this area.

I'd like to clarify for future readers that it's incorrect what you said that one needs to "actually monetize". IRS clearly states that an "actual and honest profit motive" is what is needed. IRS will ultimately make a determination using the 9 factors you cited earlier, and several other elements. Again: the question is not about this; I don't want to go off topic.

[ColeenD3]

The reason ToddL99 responded in the way he did is because you have not yet shown the ""actual and honest profit motive". Where does the profit come from? Do you have a profit? 

Your analogy of the painter with a gallery is not viable if no one buys a ticket to see the artwork.

[Ovrea]

The original question and the further clarification I provided asks to assume that the business is legitimate (based on the IRS definition). The question is not how to or an ask for help to assess if a business is legitimate: there is plenty of information about that. The question is specifically about expense classification under the assumption that the business is legitimate. To make it easy, you can also assume that the business is profitable.  If you know the answer, please help. 

[CatinaT1 · Accepted solution]

This expense could be classified as supplies or miscellaneous.  There is no right or wrong answer as to what category to add an expense.  It's definitely not inventory though.