Business aspects of BP breeding.. gulp.. help!

[Ginevive]

I am seriously thinking about taking things up to the next level in my BP breeding. This is not to say I plan on quitting my job. But I could use any help that you could give regarding this! I am thinking of..
-tax deductions. Are your spendings on new snakes, something that you can deduct as a writeoff? How about equipment?
-is it worth it for a small-time hobbyist who only breeds 3-4 females, to do this?
-my hubby has a DBA in NY state for a construction biz. Is this useable for snakey business? (under his name) but we Are married..
Thanks!

[mxrider42]

Your snakes are considered a hobby, a tax write off, until you start to make a profit. Then you would become a business. It is considered a hobby because you are making money, yet not enough to make a profit. You can write off anything related to the snake business such as caging, food, purchasing more snakes, and basically any other related expenses. Once you start to make a profit you could then make a business out of it.

My girlfriend works for a CPA and this is where the info came from.
Thanks
Trey

[bsd13]

With as many BP breeders as there are out there I can't help but wonder how hard it would be to even break into the market?

[littleindiangirl]

With as many BP breeders as there are out there I can't help but wonder how hard it would be to even break into the market?

Something I have heard over and over again, we are experiencing a climb in demand, and even with all those big and little breeders out there, they still won't be able to produce enough animals.

Coming from personal experience, I tried throwing my money away sometime last year, unfortunately, everyone I had talked to was out of the few morphs I was planning on spending big bucks on. (recessive morphs)'

As for Gin's question, I'd go for it! Like they said earlier, I believe any hobby is a write off and tax deduction, but I don't know the specifics of that. If you only have a few snakes breeding, just that much easier to sell out. Get your feet wet, and decide if you want to get into some heavier breeding.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I think personally when you go to the buisness level and make more of a job out of snake care than a hobby, it would take the fun out of it.

I do plan to produce and aquire "a few" more snakes but I can't see my self ever getting to the level where I have 1000's of snakes to care for.

[Adam_Wysocki]

I think personally when you go to the buisness level and make more of a job out of snake care than a hobby, it would take the fun out of it.

I do plan to produce and aquire "a few" more snakes but I can't see my self ever getting to the level where I have 1000's of snakes to care for.

Hey Jake,

I know that you're still young and haven't had to go out on your own yet and grind out a full time job 40+ hours a week in order to pay the bills and support a family, but I gotta tell ya from personal experience ... if you as into these animals as I am, there's nothing in the world more fun as a job. Working with animals as a full time job has been a dream of mine for 25+ years and just last year I made it a reality. I wish I had done it sooner. Instead of going in to work and sitting in an office, or driving a truck around, or doing any of the many things that I've done for work over the years ... I get to go in to work and handle hundreds of ball pythons every single day ... and even better, everyday I get to talk to people that are just as passionate about ball pythons as I am.

I've had a lot of different jobs in my life, but this one is the absolute best that I've ever had!! It's a ton of hard work, but somehow when I'm going it, it never feels like work. I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Hope this helps.

-adam

[Freakie_frog]

-tax deductions. Are your spendings on new snakes, something that you can deduct as a writeoff? How about equipment?

Up to a certain amount a year I think its like 6000.00 a year but check with a CPA on that

-is it worth it for a small-time hobbyist who only breeds 3-4 females, to do this?

Will you get stinking rich NOPE.. could you maybe save a buy a boat or Christmas presents or something with the money you make..Sure.

-my hubby has a DBA in NY state for a construction biz. Is this useable for snakey business? (under his name) but we Are married..
Thanks!

No this is not a smart idea. first if you are going to run this like a business get you own bank accounts and keep track of all expenses/overhead/income remember this is a business now.

Second this also allows people to write checks to your DBA instead of you it helps keep the money separate in you mind.

[lord jackel]

Up to a certain amount a year I think its like 6000.00 a year but check with a CPA on that

The amount you can deduct is based on your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) and is capped at 2% - so it will vary based on how much you make (Also keep in mind that you have to deduct a LOT in itemization before the "standard" deduction will be covered - so get your CPA involved cause you will need him/her). Also, once you start down the path there is no going back. The IRS will assume you are "trying" to make a profit on the hobby. By making what is called a "hobby loss deduction" form 5213 you will be waiving your statue of limitations on the hobby - which means that the IRS can audit you at any time to find out when you either did make a profit or when you sold the assets of the hobby (and what profit was derived from there). They give you 4 years to turn a profit - basically a time freebie on expenses to get your hobby started...so don't assume because you can deduct some costs today that you don't have to pay for them down the road.

I should add this is how it was explained to me by my CPA. And I do this today.

There is a lot more info at www.irs.gov and www.webtax.com

Hope this helps

[Freakie_frog]

Great Info Sean

[FIREball]

What line number would this be under? I do my own taxes using turbo tax and am curious to what I can deduct