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I noticed while doing my taxes on turbo tax there is a hobby deduction. I read a little about it in the help menu. I guess if your hobby requires you to spend money it can be a write off to some extent. I don't fish tournaments, but it made me wonder how many of you guys write off expenses for bass tournaments or any hobby related tournaments for that matter?
I have both been told by my CPA and read elsewhere that writing off losses from a hobby is one of the red flags that dramatically increase your chances of being audited.
While I have never asked specifically about how it relates to fishing as a hobby, I think many very small home businesses which never show a profit are deemed a "hobby" by the IRS if after a certain amount of consecutive years they can't generate a profit and continue to write off losses. I think this is so it is not as easy for these type of hobby/businesses to be able to "game" the system. I think this all ties together in some way and again can become a red flag for an audit.
In my personal opinion I doubt it would be worth using it, or at least consult your CPA before doing so.
I just found it interesting, it's certainly a 2 way street any earnings from such hobby would need to be turned in as well. Tweeked my curiosity as to how many people out there did this.