Subject: Digest for the period 5/2/2006 - 5/3/2006 Date: Wed, 03 May 2006 01:03:11 -0400 Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Deducting your hobby (beerking`at`adelphia.net) 2. Judge Help (gornicwm`at`earthlink.net) 3. Re: Deducting Judge Expenses (MeadGuild`at`aol.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: beerking`at`adelphia.net Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 22:42:04 -0700 Subject: Deducting your hobby ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jon Tobey Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:22:07 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Deducting Judge Expenses (PSBO7) No, I wasn't kidding. If you get paid to judge and declare the income, then you can write off the expenses. In fact, I write off all of my homebrewing, for various and sundry reasons. I'm not a tax lawyer, I just hire a good accountant. If you're curious about this I suggest you ask your accountant about how it would work for you. Jon Tobey Hmmm, interesting thoughts. I to manage to bring in the occasional "income" through my brewing hobby, but I figure every conference I attend, every batch I brew, and every commercial "sample for testing" I bring home FAR outweighs that "income." Since my understanding is that you only have to report hobby income ifyou make an actual NET income, and you are not allowed to take a loss at a hobby, I just figure it is not worth pursuing. Lyle C. Brown beerking`at`adelphia.net Kuwait's only beer judge! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: gornicwm`at`earthlink.net Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 08:56:44 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Judge Help The GREAT LAKES AHA Regional (And others) has, for the past few years, had to hold additional judging sessions in order to manage the large amounts of entries. Most of these regional competitions are what I like to consider "Legacy" competitions -- they are all ran and organized VERY WELL, but the difficulty is tabling enough judges to handle the load of filling out a quality scoresheets and properly judging an entry. The quality of judging MUST be a concern of the BJCP, for without the perception of quality, the BJCP has little legitimacy. Quality is EVERYTHING!!! This problem is going to get worse before it gets better. Many judges from the surrounding states would LOVE to help our fellow judges, but we are talking of 8 hour drives, Hotel stays ($80/Day with discount), and lost family time -- which is NEVER replacable. In Michigan, If I didn't actively pursue points and simply waited until competitions fell into my neighborhood, it would literally take a decade to get to 20 points. So, I have no issue with making the occasional "sacrafice" and leaving the family to drink some beer. Go ahead and laugh!!! Its easier for some but difficult for many of us. I enjoy both my family and my BJCP family, so its ALWAYS a difficult decison to go out of town. I think most judges, in general, lose interest or other life events simply take priority -- This cannot be corrected. The problem is when judges REALLY want to be there, but are forced to make a decision. Personally, If I travel, I "WASTE" a weekend for what? One point??!!! Out of state judges should at least get an extra .5 - 1 point just for making the trip (OR) for every 300 miles you drive or fly some appreciation should be given to these judges in the form of stipends and/or points. I have found through my travels that the judges that are willing to make the trip are pretty commited to what they are doing -- They really have the LOVE for what they are doing and representing. Please realize that I am not one of these people that neccesarily need the enticement. I am a part of the BJCP and I am "hooked"!! I am simply concerned with the overall perception and quality of the BJCP. We need to find new, creative ways of not only getting BJCP members, but tabling judges for these BIG events. Regarding, Ed's comment on limiting entries, That is not the solution to the problem, really. These events will still grow -- and we want this. Again, we need new creative ways to table judges at these events and that means NOT relying on local clubs for EVERYTHING. Sweetening the pot for traveling judges might be a good way to go. Will there be a HUGE influx of traveling judges if this is done? Probably not. But it will make a lot of judges consider driving in for a competition where they would not have considered it before. How can this be done? Do organizers of an event have to solicit the BJCP (or AHA) for monetary assistance? Examples: 50% off rooms, Dinner for two at a local brewpub for "out-of-towners", extra points, entry discounts for brewers that both ENTER and JUDGE in the same competition, etc, etc, etc... We're a pretty resourceful bunch...let's get a little creative and find ways to get the people that REALLY want to be at the tables to the tables. Bill Gornicki CRAFT Homebrew Club Michigan ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: MeadGuild`at`aol.com Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 11:26:24 EDT Subject: Re: Deducting Judge Expenses You can deduct "some" your expenses for traveling to a competition where you will serve as a judge or steward. The BJCP simply needs an opinion letter from someone who is enrolled to practice before the IRS. That means a CPA, an Enrolled Agent, or a Tax Attorney. This is not as simple as it sounds. I can not write such a letter because I have a conflict of interest. I did start to prepare one and then a vertebrae in my back compressed. Keep track of your expenses by event and by category (mileage, lodging, food, etc). Also note who came with you and what else you did while there. I will get back on this, finish the letter, have it reviewed by a few CPA's, and have it issued by the most rigorous CPA I know. It should be published by BJCP by Labor Day. Dick -- Richard D. Adams, CPA Moderator: misc.taxes.moderated ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Important Subscriber Information ***** To post a message to JudgeNet, send it to judge`at`synchro.com. Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments. Make sure you use a meaningful subject. Quote only as much material as is needed for context. To manage your subscription, go to http://synchro.com/judge/subscriptions.html or send an email to judge-request`at`synchro.com with the subject: help judge. JudgeNet is also available as an NNTP newsgroup, go to news://news.synchro.com/synchro.judge