Need legal/financial advice from pros

[Beefy]

I need help from pro or competing amateur bodybuilders and/or pro trainers. I'm going to start training in Feb. to compete later this year in some local and hopefully regional bodybuilding events. I was hoping I could keep receipts and write off the expenses of training on my taxes. I know this is a stretch, but in the company I run I am allowed to write off anything deemed "necessary or ordinary" to doing business. I thought I would try to find a way to present, my attempt at bodybuilding as a business venture, and then maybe I could write off expenses that are ordinary in the field of bodybuilding competition and expenses that are necessary for me to compete. I figured my gym dues, trainer's fees, gas used to and from the gym, supps and vitamins, and some of my grocery bill for essential nutrition demands specific to bodybuilding would be a start on things I could claim on my taxes. I know this is really just a line of bullshit, but if I could get away with it I would save a fortune. Has any one ever tried this before and had sucess? What about trainers, what are you allowed to claim? Do you file 1099's as independent contractors?

Thanks for help.

Beefy

[Parasite]

Bottom line: You need to make money to write things off.

Unless you're a model, you can't write off training and nutrition expenses as deductions.

[tatt2d]

You might also try using company $ to "sponsor" your bodybuilding and use it as a write off i.e. wear a shirt with logo (protional/advertiusing). You might even be able to double dip doing something like that.

[tatt2d]

and no parasite, you are wrong. you do not need to make money to write things off. A venture is allowed to operate at a loss fior a number of years (3 or 5 I think) per IRS

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by tatt2d

and no parasite, you are wrong. you do not need to make money to write things off. A venture is allowed to operate at a loss fior a number of years (3 or 5 I think) per IRS

True, but unless BBing IS your business, then you will not be able to deduct any of those expenses. I like photography, but I cant write off the cost of a new camera, lenses and so on because its not a business. Im almost positive that, as parasite said, unless you are a model or otherwise make a living with your body, the IRS will not let you deduct any costs associated with travel to shows, entry fees, gym fees, etc. Most likely, there are only a few BBers in the country that would be allowed to claim BBing as thier job, and those would only be the big boys that everyone knows of, ie Coleman, Cutler, and the like.

[Beefy]

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

True, but unless BBing IS your business, then you will not be able to deduct any of those expenses. I like photography, but I cant write off the cost of a new camera, lenses and so on because its not a business. Im almost positive that, as parasite said, unless you are a model or otherwise make a living with your body, the IRS will not let you deduct any costs associated with travel to shows, entry fees, gym fees, etc. Most likely, there are only a few BBers in the country that would be allowed to claim BBing as thier job, and those would only be the big boys that everyone knows of, ie Coleman, Cutler, and the like.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm definately not a model, and I'd be hard pressed to win a legitimate bodybuilding competition this year. I was planning on approaching it like a business venture and then compete later this year and lose. I would not win a competition for another two years or so, but in the mean time I could claim thousands of dollars worth of expenses.

I like the idea of sponsoring my bodybuilding career with my company, but I respect my company and the guys that work with me too much to use filter company profits into my personal life. Only if it would really benefit my company would I do that, and that would never happen in real life.

I'm not giving up on this idea, though. I'll talk with my tax guy this week and see what he thinks about it. He's got a knack for coming up with legal solutions to problems like this. I am still hoping some of the trainers and competitors from Meso will post a bit more advice.