Documentary Filmmaker Wins Against I.R.S., Which Saw Her as a Hobbyist
Submitted by Steve on April 25, 2012
From Michael Cieply at The New York Times:
(Lee) Storey went to court after the Internal Revenue Service tried to disallow her deduction of expenses incurred while making and marketing the film “Smile ‘Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story.”
The movie played the festival circuit after it was finished in 2008, but has yet to become a money maker. So the tax collectors contended that Ms. Storey, who is a practicing lawyer when she is not making documentary films, was engaged in a hobby, not a business, because she enjoyed filmmaking, and wasn’t turning a profit, despite some considerable efforts to do so.
That contention sent shivers through the ranks of documentary filmmakers, many of whom are in the same boat much of the time.