Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I figured the general forum would be the best place to ask this.
It may seem silly, but bare with me...

Ok, you have a small, private snake breeding business aka you sell snakes to people and retail stores.
You shell out $1500 for a new python to breed or $400 for an amel emery ratsnake...

Can you write that off on your taxes, since without snakes to breed, you have no business?
How about mice? Can you write them off as a "business supply"?

I was just curious.

But I'd say if you're gonna write expenses off, you'll also have to claim profits as earned income, and possibly even then have some kind of a business license.
I could be WAAAAAY wrong but I thought I'd play devils advocate and take a wild stab.
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

If you're running a legitimate business you can write off business expenses. If you aren't, you can't. A business that looks to the IRS like a hobby and that consistently fails to turn a profit is very likely to trigger an audit and a great deal of associated unpleasantness (ie interest, penalties, possible jail time if you failed to report income).

i'm really talking a small scale "i have ONE rack in my room" type thing. I'm talking something like NERD or cornsnake.net, where they make quite a bit of money.

i have one breeding pair, and they aren't even of age yet haha.
soon though...another year or so.
anery striped corns het ghost. hehe

In your case, no, it is not a tax deduction.
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Firehouse Herps

Again, if you're legitimately running a business, which is defined as an activity engaged in for the purpose of earning a profit, you can deduct expenses. You can even lose money some years, and deduct the loss against other income you might have, but you can't lose money every year. The IRS is not stupid and knows a hobby when it sees one.

It doesn't sound like you're legitimately starting a business. You can't finance your hobby with tax money.