Larry,

- quote -

Absolutely, a daily blog post on a website and displaying
advertising from using Google Adsense as a revenue generator
might be a good idea.

Other places to get ideas and information for setting up a
small business can be found at
http://www.small-business-software.net

Goodluck
John

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The IRS would probably look at this with a jaundiced eye.

If your parents could show INTENT to make a profit from this
activity and demonstrate a reasonable expectation that the
activity (travel/website) would show a profit in three of
the first years, the IRS may accept this as a business and
allow appropriate deductions. More likely the IRS would
classify this as a hobby and disallow any business
deduction.

Any income would fall under the hobby rules and must be
reported on line21. Any expenses up to the income may be
deducted on Schedule A , under Misc expenses subject to the
2% limitation. In no case can hobby activities create a
deductible loss.

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Larry wrote:

- quote -

At a loss here to understand what type of business would
possibly be possible for them? Any ideas?

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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larry[at]larryadair.com (Larry) writes:

- quote -

Only if they fancy an extended visit to Leavenworth. It's
lovely there this time of year, and I have "people" there,
as we say in this part of the country, but I don't recommend
it.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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Larry wrote:

- quote -

The answer to 95% of all tax questions is "It depends."
1. Is this a business website or a hobby website?
2. How will this website produce revenue to offset
their expenses?

Be aware that this approach has been tried before even by
a man who was writing a book on prostitution <G> . Without
revenue to offset expenses, your parents WILL get hung out
to dry at audit time.

Dick

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My folks are retired and would like to do some traveling
around the country. They were thinking about maintaining a
website about their travels and the places they saw along
the way.

I was wondering if it would be prudent if they set up a
business so they could write off some of their travel
expenses based on the their website.

Any ideas or thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Larry

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