A small business is reported on Schedule C, as a sole proprietor. Or if you haven't decided whether this will become an ongoing business venture, you can choose to treat it as a hobby.
The main difference is that a small business can deduct expenses necessary to obtain the income directly from the gross receipts of the business. The net profit or loss is then carried to the Form 1040 to combine with other income.
The hobby is reported by including the income, but the expenses can only be used if you itemize deductions on Schedule A, and they are limited by 2% of the adjusted gross income (AGI). This means you can use the amount of expense that exceeds the 2% of AGI and then only if you can itemize deductions because they are greater than the standard deduction.
Business income is determined by many factors including the time, money invested, profits and/or losses. As you can see in the article, you would be responsible for convincing the IRS that's not a hobby. The records of dates of the winnings, as well as the source of the winnings, expenses detailed with receipts and a bookkeeping system. Check out the information below as well as the link.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reminds taxpayers to follow appropriate guidelines when determining whether an activity is a business or a hobby, an activity not engaged in for profit. ... Generally, an activity qualifies as a business if it is carried on with the reasonable expectation of earning a profit.
The IRS presumes that an activity is carried on for profit if it makes a profit during at least three of the last five tax years, including the current year — at least two of the last seven years for activities that consist primarily of breeding, showing, training or racing horses. It's customary for the business to take time to reach a profit in the first couple of years.
If you decide it's not yet at a stage that you would consider it a business, then you can choose to report it as a hobby.
You can report your small business using the following steps (TurboTax Self Employed Online or TurboTax Desktop Deluxe can be used to report this):
- Sign into your TurboTax account (online or desktop)
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Search (box in upper right) for schedule c < Jump to schedule c
- Your name and address is the business name and address unless you have a separate physical location for the business.
You can report a hobby by using the following steps (TurboTax Deluxe online or desktop can be used for this):
- Sign into your TurboTax account (online or desktop)
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Search (box in upper right) for hobby expenses < Jump to hobby expenses
- Enter your income and your expenses
- Click the images attached to enlarge and view for assistance
