Taxes - Using your business/aquarium expenses for write-offs?

[andsoitgoes]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

From an accountant, the object of a business is to make money, not have losses. And yes, you need income before you can write off expenses.

Losses from a "hobby" are not allowable. If you have a business license, you may get away with a loss if you have taxable income the following year. I would refrain from a frivolent claim which could only cause you problems in the future.

Thanks - that's what I'd been under the impression of. I've already broken through that red barrier, but all of my major purchases of the lights, tanks, etc were within that first year. No major extra expenses will keep me away from actually bringing in some sort of income.

I don't want to just put in losses for the sake of losses, but our goal was to do breeding of f/w fish and do coral propogation - Actually, I guess a question of mine is if you start a business and realize that you're not going to actually MAKE money from it, and that you've expended a ton of cash as outflow, why is that not "acceptable"?