No, tax reform makes deducting hobby expenses nearly impossible.
It's important to know if the IRS classifies your activity as a hobby or a business. If your hobby is now a full-fledged business, you should take valuable business deductions.
Generally, the definition of business is a venture whose primary purpose is to make a profit. If your motive is not primarily for profit but rather, for fun, sport or recreation, it is considered a hobby.
Much of the confusion for taxpayers occurs when they classify their hobby as a small business because it generates some income. Essentially, the difference between a hobby and a business is not about profit and loss. It's all about intent.
The following questions can help you make the distinction between a hobby and a business:
If the IRS classifies it as a hobby, you can't get the same set of deductions as a business. Still, you can often deduct some hobby expenses.
Before the new tax reform rules, you would have to prove your hobby as a business by passing not one but nine tests. It mattered because the outcome of the hobby-business tests had serious tax implications.
Under the prior tax law, you could potentially deduct hobby expenses up to the amount your hobby made money. You'd treat those expenses as a miscellaneous itemized deduction that you could only deduct if it exceeded 2 percent of your AGI.
Unfortunately, tax reform removed this deduction.