On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 22:11:28 -0500, "Sockpuppet Yustabe"
wrote:


"John Atkinson" wrote in message
. com...
Kalman Rubinson wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 07:00:00 -0500, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:
I know of at least one reviewer who would probably pay a substantial
fee to
be a "paid reviewer". If he gets paid to review audio gear, all of his
stereo system equipment purchases for the year become business
expenses. He
can then deduct their total, up to about $17 K a year from gross
income
(don't know if this is the current number, but order-of-magnitude), as
capital improvement expenses.

I wish you were correct. One can deduct purchased equipment as a
business expense against the income from that business, not from all
income. Thus, if your only audio-related income is $1000, you can
deduct no more than that, regardless of your expenditures.

It's actually worse than that Kal, as according to the accountant who
does my taxes, your income from the business has to be sufficiently high
that the IRS is convinced it _is_ a business, not a hobby. If the latter,
you can't deduct _any_ purchases related to the venture. :-(

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile


So much for Arny's $20,000 'investment' in sound cards.

Well, he *did* say this:

"True as far as it goes, but there are many unhh work-arounds. In many
of these situations your conscience truly is your guide, and nobody is
going to check up on your return in sufficient detail to pick up on
the details unless the monetary amounts are massive".